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640 Volunteer-Teachers plead for permanency while 1,500 vacancies remain unfulfilled
View(s):Volunteer-teachers serving in 196 schools in the Puttalam Education Zone (PEZ) are entreating that they be made permanent teachers. These volunteer-teachers receive only a nominal sum given by the parents of students. They complain that, while the previous government had blueprints to enroll them as permanent as teachers, the new government has cancelled those plans.
These teachers, numbering 640, have been easing the severe lack of teachers in the PEZ (in Puttalam alone, there are 1500 vacancies for teachers) but their pleas have long been ignored.
Faced with continuous inaction, the teachers organized themselves into the “Puttalam District Voluntary Teachers’ Association” (PDVTA), and recently held a protest which closed the Puttalam-Colombo Road for one hour. Arriving at the site of the protest, UNP Puttalam District Organiser, P.N. Gunawardena assured the protesters that he will hold talks with the President and the Prime Minister and provide a solution “within one month.”
The teachers then agreed to call off the protest for that day.
PDVTA Secretary, Nadeesha Herath explained the hardships volunteer-teachers have to undergo: “There are days we don’t have enough for bus fare. But we never let the children be affected by our hardships. Some of us have been serving in this position for as much as 12 years.” She said they have only one plea, and that is, to be appointed as permanent teachers.
- Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe