WP Ed.Min. fails to use Rs 2,000m allocation to pay arrears: CTU
View(s):The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) charged this week that the Western Province (WP) Education Ministry has failed to use up Rs 2,000 million allocated by the line ministry, to pay arrears to teachers and principals in the 11 zones in the province. CTU Gen.Sec. Joseph Stalin said the new Service Minute of Oct. 23, 2014, recommended that all teachers and principals get their due promotions in retrospectively from 2008, and the salary increments arising from the promotions paid from 2011.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Education (MoE) sent a sum of Rs 2,000 million in 2015, to the WP Council to effect payment. Mr S.G. Wijebanda of the WP Education Ministry said his office received the money too early, even before the calculations were made on 37,000 teachers’ and 15,000 principals’ files in the Provincial and National schools in the WP. As they were not ready with the figures, they had to return the money sent to them.
He said, now that the calculations have been done, they are now paying the promoted candidates. “We are in the process of paying them and will soon pay all of them,” he said. – Chrishanthi Christopher