Education Ministry Secretary Nalaka Kaluwewa said that some national school teacher transfer orders are being held back due to practical reasons.

Responding to questions from The Daily Morning regarding the implementation of national school teacher transfers, Kaluwewa said on Wednesday (2) that around 2,000 transfers had been issued last year (2025), of which, 24 were held back due to practical reasons. He said that some of the reasons given by principals involved practical issues which had to be considered by the Ministry.  He said that there are also several opportunities for teachers to appeal against transfer decisions within a year. However, he noted that action had been taken against around 100 principals who had failed to implement transfers last year.

The issue of the non-implementation of teacher transfers was raised by the Ceylon Teachers' Service Union (CTSU), which said that the failure to implement transfers remains a serious issue. A spokesperson for the CTSU told The Daily Morning that the situation differed between national and Provincial schools, adding that in the case of the former, some teachers had appealed against their transfers to the Public Service Commission, but that responses had still not been received for all the appeals. It also said that some teachers had failed to report to their new schools even after their appeals had been rejected. The spokesperson said that action had been taken against some teachers who had failed to report to their new schools, while no action had been taken against others, resulting in them continuing to remain at their previous schools.