Political appointment of school principals bypassing protocol- CTU
View(s):The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) last week charged that political appointments of principals to schools are being made to national and provincial schools bypassing protocol.
CTU General Secretary, Joseph Stalin said that, “Of the 353 National schools, around 258 are presently run by acting Principals.
According to Education Circular No. 1998/23, applications have to be called from eligible staff and interviews held before appointing principals to schools. But, it has transpired that, applications for the principals’ posts have not been called for a long time. The last call for applications was made in 2013, for 102 vacancies but, the process was stalled and no interview was held to fill the posts.
The CTU claims that the principal posts that fall vacant are being filled by the Old Boys Association (OBA) of those schools. “They get around the Ministry of Education (MoE) and make political appointments to the vacant positions,” he charged. The MoE regulations require that only a Class 1 Officer or a Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) officer can hold a principal’s post.
Mr Stalin charged that the same pattern is being copied in Provincial schools as well.
- Chrishqanthi Christopher