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None within Ministry to overlook Pirivena schools, charges PGSS
View(s):The Pirivena Guru Seva Sangamaya (PGSS) this week charged that Government, for the last three years, had failed to appoint an Additional Secretary in the Education Ministry, to overlook the affairs of Pirivena students.
PGSS President, Wakemulle Udith Thera said that the Pirivenas’ 65,000 students and 6,600 teachers are undergoing difficulties due to the lack of an official in the Education ministry to look into their affairs.
He said that several requests by the PGSS to have an official appointed to the post has gone unheeded, and that teachers are being deprived of many benefits due to them within the public service. He charged that the activities pertaining to the Pirivena has been assigned as additional work to an official, who is unable to cope with the work. This, he said, is causing many delays including the implementation of circular no. 8/2014, which facilitates teachers to receive loans from State banks.
Wakemulle Thera said that, at a discussion the PGSS members had with ministry officials last week, it transpired that the Education Ministry is unable to find a suitable person for the position.
Ceylon Teachers Union’s Joseph Stalin commenting on the issue, said the previous government, ignoring protocol and issuing only a Cabinet paper, had appointed a Buddhist monk, Watinapaha Somananda Thera, who did not have the requisite qualifications for the position. However, he had to leave, as he had been involved in the Rs 60 million worth saffron cloth distribution racket during election time.
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