News
Probe on teachers’ and officials’ joy ride
A three-member panel has been appointed to probe the action of 73 teachers and education officials who had defied orders and embarked on a foreign trip at public expense, initially meant for students in the Southern Province, a top official said yesterday.
The panel was set up after explanations were called from the group as to why disciplinary action should not be initiated against them since they had violated standard procedures and had wasted some Rs. 20 million that was meant for the development of education infrastructure in the region, Southern Province Governor Kumari Balasuriya told the Sunday Times.
She said that necessary action will be taken once a report is forwarded by the panel but did not rule out possible transfers and other changes for certain individuals in the group.
She added the Southern Province’s former Education Minister Chandima Rasaputra had been misled by the group.
Initially some 138 teachers and education officials had wangled places but most of them changed their minds after the Governor’s Office ordered the tour be stopped.
The group of 73 however defied the order and proceeded on the two-week fun trip to Malaysia and Singapore minus the students.
The trip was offered to a dozen students who had fared exceptionally well at the recently concluded Year Five and Advanced Level examinations but they were left out.
However Ms. Balasuriya yesterday said the group of students will be afforded the trip sometime in early April with three teachers selected to escort them.