National Schools’ excess teachers to fill Provincial schools’ shortage: MoE
View(s):The Minister of Education (MoE) has instructed that excess teachers in National Schools be transferred to Provincial schools, to manage the teacher shortages in the 10,022 schools in the country. Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, the MoE website said, had instructed that a count of the number of teachers serving in National Schools for a ‘long time’ be taken, to transfer them to Provincial schools, to balance the teacher shortage in suburban and rural Schools.
It is learned that qualified teachers in Provincial schools will be sent to National schools, to fill the vacancies created by the transfers. The programme is also expected to look into excess teachers who continue to work in schools without a timetable. According to the MoE’s teacher-transfer policy, National and Provincial schools teachers should be transferred on completion of 5 years.
The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) charged that, the Govt has inordinately delayed teacher transfers, with teachers serving for more than 20 years in National and Provincial schools CTU General Secretary, Joseph Stalin said that, according to statistics, there are 33,242 approved positions for teachers in National schools, while there are 8,216 excess teachers for 6,980 shortage. In Provincial schools the approved cadre is 202,921, with an excess of 32,710 teachers for 23,757 shortages.
Altogether, there are around 40,000 excess teachers, but the shortage occurs because they are unable to teach specific subjects such as Maths, Science and English. “The Govt has recruited people haphazardly, without due consideration to their ability to teach specific subjects where there are shortages,” he said. He said the problem is perennial, and needs to be addressed.
- Chrishanthi Christopher