Cabinet responds to teacher threat

By Isuri Kaviratne

The Cabinet has decided to look into the salary anomalies of teachers even as the teachers’ unions announced a two-day strike due to the silence the Government had maintained so far regarding the issue. Education Minister Susil Premajayantha said the Cabinet decided last Wednesday to take up next week with the teachers’ unions their salary anomalies.

“We have sent letters to the unions agreeing to discussions and we have got positive replies from them,” the minister said. He said Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake was appointed to look into the matter by the Cabinet and he had called for representatives of the Salary and Cadre Commission, teachers’ unions and the Ministry for discussions.

Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe said the silence the Government had been maintaining regarding the salary disputes of the teachers prompted the unions to stage a strike on October 29 and 30.

“The Government accused the teachers for not acting responsibly in keeping with their profession and destroying the image of teachers. But it would be better if the Government tried to solve the problem without forcing teachers to take such actions.

The Supreme Court on September 14 ordered teachers to resume paper marking and we obeyed accordingly but the Government has so far not taken any decision regarding the salary anomalies other than blaming the teachers for going on strike,” he said.

“We could have waited if the Government had financial problems but the actions of the Government do not show any financial constraints. If the pensions of the MPs can be doubled, why cannot salary anomalies of the teachers be rectified,” he asked.