Despite over 7,500 eligible only 700 promoted Principals: CTU
View(s):The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) last week said the Government, despite around 7,500 candidates qualified for promotions, only 700 were promoted Principals.
This follows a circular issued by the Ministry of Education (MoE) in 2015, that all teachers to be eligible for the Principal’s post, should have a Simple Pass in Sinhala/Tamil at their Ordinary Level (O/L) exam. Accordingly, it is stipulated, a Sinhala medium teacher have a Pass in the Tamil Language, while a Tamil medium teacher have a pass in the Sinhala Language at the O/L.
CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said this has resulted in about 4,000 Grade 2 teachers and 3,500 Grade 3 teachers stagnating without their due promotions.
Following this, he said the matter was brought to the notice of National Co-existence & Dialogue Minister Mano Ganeshan, who granted a solution by diluting the clause, stating that teachers over 50 year of age, instead of the Pass at O/L, could follow a 100-hours course in Tamil/Sinhala, to qualify for promotions.
However, the MoE has ignored this concession and granted promotions only to those candidates with Passes in Sinhala/Tamil in their O/Ls.
“This is wrong and creates disillusionment among the teachers. We need to change this,” he said. - CC