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Teachers angered by teacher cluster allegation

29 Aug 2021

  • SLPESU President claimed 400 teachers infected
By Buddhika Samaraweera The Ceylon Teachers’ Services Union (CTSU) has requested the Police to carry out an investigation into a statement made by the Sri Lanka Podujana Education Services Union (SLPESU) President Wasantha Handapangoda to the effect that about 400 teachers who had taken part in recent protests demanding a solution to their issues – including the teacher-principal salary anomalies – had contracted Covid-19, and that a total of 25 of them had already died. Addressing a media briefing yesterday (29), CTSU General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe claimed that Handapangoda’s statement, made to a weekend national newspaper, was completely untrue, and that a number of teachers’ and principals’ trade unions, including the Ceylon Teachers' Union (CTU) and the CTSU, strongly condemned the same. “Handapangoda has said that about 400 teachers have been infected with Covid-19 and 25 of them have died as a result of participating in teachers’ protests that were recently held. This is totally a baseless statement and we challenge her to make the details of such teachers, who have been infected with the virus and who died, public as soon as possible,” he said. Claiming that the Police had recently arrested persons who were spreading various false information or “fake news” and had taken steps to record their statements, Jayasinghe said that Handapangoda should also be arrested and questioned about the statement she made. “This is a completely false statement. So we are waiting to see what action the Police will take in this regard,” he said. Handapangoda was not available for a comment. Nearly 30 teachers’ and principals’ trade unions initiated a number of trade union actions, including the withdrawal from all online teaching activities since 12 July 2021, demanding solutions to their issues – including teacher-principal salary anomalies – and protests have been held in several areas as an extension of such trade union actions. During such a protest held in front of the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo recently, more than 40 teachers and principals were arrested by the Police. However, rapid antigen tests (RATs) performed on them revealed that they were not infected with the Covid-19 virus. Subsequently, taking into account the rapidly spreading Covid-19 pandemic in the country, the teachers’ and principals’ trade unions, on 6 August, decided to suspend the in-person protests and instead commenced digital protests.


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