Schools ready to open, say education, health and provincial authorities

Schools with students below 200 are in a position to open tomorrow (21) as all schools have been inspected and will adhere to health guidelines, the Public Health Inspectors (PHI) Union said.

Head of the Union, Upul Rohana urged parents to send their children to school without fear, as most of primary class students have missed academic activities close to a year.

He said school authorities are well aware of the health guidelines, and requested parents too to follow hygiene practices.

“All area PHIs will be on duty inspecting schools and even outside schools,” he said.

The Education Ministry said out of 10,155 schools in the country initially 3884 primary schools have been identified for re-opening. Education Minister Dinesh Gunewardena issuing a special statement said re-opening of schools will bring joy not only to parents but to the nation.

He hoped all teachers and principals will report to duty, as the President, Prime Minister and Finance Minister all believed in providing a fair solution to their salary anomaly issue.

The re-opening will take place amidst a teacher-principal strike, with unions refusing to report to work tomorrow (21) and on Friday (22).

The Teacher Principal Trade Union Alliance said they will report to work starting from Monday (25). An island-wide protest is to take place in front of schools after 2.00p.m. against the government’s failure to address the teacher salary anomaly issue, the Alliance said.

As most schools below 200 students come under provincial councils, Governors and Provincial Education Ministries have issued instructions on re-opening of schools in their respective areas. The Southern Province Education Ministry, said it has been made compulsory for all principals, teachers, sports instructors, trainee graduates attached to schools, non academic staff to report to duty in schools below 200 students.

“The Governor has instructed that if a Principal fails to report to duty, the next senior teacher can be appointed as the acting Principal by the Zonal Education Director,” Secretary Ranjith Yapa said.  

Governor of Uva province, A.J.M.Muzammil said primary schools in the province are ready for re-opening and instructions have been sent to make it mandatory for all teachers to be vaccinated.