CTU condemns restricting religious teaching in Schools to Dharmachariyas, Moulavis
View(s):The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) last week condemned the Ministry of Education (MoE) policy to recruit only Dharmachariyas and Moulavis to teach religion in schools. CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said the Government policy introduced this year, belittles graduate qualifications, making special titles conferred on Ordinary Level and Advanced Level students, important.
The MoE, in a Cabinet paper dated June 30, 2018, seeks to recruit 5,818 teachers to teach religion in schools. However, the eligibility criteria is being restricted only to Ordinary Level and Advance Level qualified candidates in Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Christianity and Islam, together with a dharmachariya or maulavi title.
Accordingly, 3,080 Buddhist teachers, 429 Catholic teachers, 452 Christian teachers, 1,476 Hindu teachers and 381 Islam teachers will be recruited to teach religion in over 10,000 schools in the country.
Mr Stalin said that graduates are equally eligible, if not more, to teach religion in schools. He said there are many graduates who have qualified in religious subjects and are eligible for the posts. “his is wrong, we should give preference to graduates, when recruiting teachers for any subject,” he said. - CC