Education News
Recruitment of graduate teachers: Upcountry Tamil parties at loggerheads
View(s):The rift between upcountry Tamil political parties over filling vacancies in Science and Maths subjects in upcountry schools, deepened this week.
Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) Central Provincial Council (CPC) Member K. Kanagaraja said there are more than 1,000 graduates without jobs in Tamil areas in the upcountry. “During the Tamil-Sinhala New Year period, I went to a supermarket, where two salespersons asked whether we had any plans to recruit graduate teachers to upcountry schools,” he said.
Mr. Kanagaraja said he had asked the two employees whether they were graduates. They had said they were. “I was surprised that, while we have sufficient qualified people in our area, State Minister for Education, R. Radakrishnan has submitted a proposal to the Education Minister, to recruit graduate teachers from India, stating it is difficult to recruit qualified people locally.”
Mr. Kanagaraja also said that, in 1982, they had to recruit 1,000 teachers to Tamil schools, but could only manage to recruit 492. “But the situation today is different. Today, though there are more than 55,000 A/L-qualified Tamil students within the CP, they have not been given a suitable opportunity, and are compelled to find jobs elsewhere.”
- PCK