CTU goes to HRC against Uva PC-CM
View(s):The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) has lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) against the Chief Minister (CM) of the Uva Provincial Council (PC), for reprimanding a school Principal who refused to admit a student to her school. CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said he had written both to the Governor of the Uva Province and the HRC to look into an incident where the Principal Bawani Ragunath of Badulla Girls Maha Vidyalaya was summoned to the PC office and reprimanded by CM Sampath Dassanayake for not complying with a request made by him to admit a child to the school.
It is learned that a parent had come along with a politician from the Sri Lanka Podhu Jana Peramuna (SLPJP) party, asking that a child be admitted to the school. The Principal, it is learned, had said that she cannot comply with the request, as admissions for 2017 were over and that, any further admissions will be through the Education Secretary or the Zonal Education Director of the area.
Mrs Ragunath said the letter was from the parent requesting for a place in the school, along with scribbled notes from the CM’s Personal Secretary and a politician from the SLPJP, requesting the child be admitted. Later she was summoned to the CM’s office and reprimanded for ignoring orders. It transpires that the politician who accompanied the parent, had reported to the CM that she had spoken in derogatory terms of the CM’s education.
Principal Ragunath had categorically denied such statements. Following which it was discussed that she be transferred to a school in another area as punishment. Mr Stalin said the Ministry of Education (MoE) should take note of such incidents and take immediate action to address such issues. “We have written to the Governor and to the HRC on the injustice to officers who try to work in keeping with the guidelines of the MoE,’ he said. – CC