• No Provincial school recruitments as at 15 September
• 39,207 vacancies in Provincial schools
• National teacher-student ratio at 15:47

A total of 40,185 teacher vacancies remained unfilled at the end of 2025, but only 425 teachers have been recruited so far this year, with no recruitments made to Provincial schools as at 15 September, according to Education Ministry data obtained by The Daily Morning.

The figures, provided by the Education Ministry in response to a Right to Information (RTI) request, show that 978 of the vacancies were in National schools, while the overwhelming majority – 39,207 – were in Provincial schools.

Of the 40,185 vacancies recorded at the end of 2025, 978 were in National schools and 39,207 were in Provincial schools.

The 978 vacancies in National schools comprised 693 Sinhala-medium, 18 Tamil-medium and 267 English-medium positions.

Provincial schools accounted for the overwhelming majority of the vacancies, with 39,207 positions unfilled across the nine Provinces.

The Central Province recorded the highest number of vacancies, with 6,961 positions unfilled, including 4,420 Sinhala-medium, 2,280 Tamil-medium and 261 English-medium vacancies.

The Western Province had 5,153 vacancies, comprising 4,118 Sinhala-medium, 850 Tamil-medium and 185 English-medium positions, while the Eastern Province recorded 4,755 vacancies, including 1,284 Sinhala-medium, 3,426 Tamil-medium and 45 English-medium positions.

The North Western Province had 4,413 vacancies, comprising 3,414 Sinhala-medium, 628 Tamil-medium and 371 English-medium positions, while Sabaragamuwa had 3,994 vacancies, including 3,051 Sinhala-medium, 857 Tamil-medium and 86 English-medium positions.

The Northern Province recorded 3,866 vacancies, of which 72 were in Sinhala-medium schools, 3,760 in Tamil-medium schools and 34 in English-medium schools.

The Uva Province had 3,852 vacancies, including 2,939 Sinhala-medium, 798 Tamil-medium and 115 English-medium positions. The North Central Province had 3,157 vacancies, comprising 2,630 Sinhala-medium, 485 Tamil-medium and 42 English-medium positions, while the Southern Province had 3,056 vacancies, including 2,906 Sinhala-medium, 49 Tamil-medium and 101 English-medium positions.

The national teacher-student ratio was given as 15:47.

In response to queries regarding teacher recruitments, the Ministry stated that 425 teachers had been recruited to National schools during 2026 as of the date of the RTI response.

Of those recruited, 91 were diploma holders from National Colleges of Education recruited to Grade 3-I (b) of the Sri Lanka Teachers’ Service. A further 25 graduates were recruited to Grade 3-I (a) to teach foreign language subjects, while 305 graduates were recruited to Grade 3-I (a) to teach 46 subjects, including General Certificate of Education Advanced Level Science and Technology subjects. Another four teachers were recruited to Grade 3-I (c) to fill English teacher vacancies.

However, the Ministry’s response stated that no teachers had been recruited to Provincial schools, which account for the majority of teacher vacancies, as of 15 September.

The figures come as the Government has announced plans to recruit 23,000 teachers this year to address the teacher shortage.

Prime Minister and Education Minister Dr Harini Amarasuriya said in Parliament on 8 September that an examination had already been held to recruit the 23,000 teachers and the recruitment process is expected to be completed within this year.

She said the Government expected at least half of the existing teacher vacancies to be filled through the recruitment process.