Public Sector, Education TUs agitate against proficiency in 2nd Language
View(s):The Public Sector and Education trade unions are calling on the Government to amend the Circular which calls on public servants to attain proficiency in Second Language, to qualify for promotions and salary increments.
Accordingly, they request the Ministry of Public Administration and the Ministry of National Integration and Official Languages to submit a Cabinet paper to this effect.
A Circular issued by the PSC in 2014/1, requires that all public servants who joined the Service after 2007, have an Ordinary Level pass in the Sinhala or Tamil Language, as the case may be.
Accordingly, Sinhala public servants need to have Tamil proficiency and vice-a-versa.
The Ceylon Teachers union (CTU) said that teachers are greatly inconvenienced by this Circular that requires teachers to have Ordinary Level qualifications in Sinhala or Tamil languae.
As many teachers could not achieve this qualification, they had to forego their annual increments and promotions.
In keeping with requests made by the teacher unions, the PSC issued an amended Circular, No.2014/1(IV), which gave concessions to public servants over 50 years, as of January 31, 2017.
Instead of an Ordinary Level pass in the second language, teachers over 50 years were allowed to follow 100 hours of Sinhala/Tamil Language course.
Now the public servants are requesting that all public servants be granted this facility and they be allowed to follow a 100-hour course in the relevant languages.
- CC