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Teacher appointments by 18 Jan.

05 Jan 2021

  • Agreement reached after demonstration

By Hiranyada Dewasiri   The Ministry of Education (MoE) has provided a written assurance to diploma-holding prospective teachers from National Colleges of Education or teacher training colleges, that they would receive their formal school appointments on 18 January. Earlier, Minister of Education Prof. G.L. Peiris and Ministry Secretary Prof. Kapila Perera had announced that the appointments would be made before 31 December 2020. The new date was conveyed through a letter issued yesterday (4) by Ministry of Education Additional Secretary of Establishment P.K.S. Subodhini, following a discussion held with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna-affiliated Ceylon Teachers’ Services Union (CTSU) and prospective teachers. The discussion came at the end of a demonstration carried out by CTSU together with prospective teachers in front of the MoE premises at Isurupaya yesterday. They protested the delay in making the formal school appointments and demanded that these appointments be made according to the same criteria that the prospective teachers were admitted to National Colleges. The formal appointments will definitely be made on 18 January, Subodhini told The Morning. Speaking to The Morning, CTSU General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe said that they will be waiting for the appointments to be made on this new deadline. “The Ministry has issued this deadline in writing so we will wait for them to abide by it. We will go for another trade union action if they fail to do so”. The issue that had arisen regarding the basis upon which teachers are appointed to schools was also resolved through an agreement for appointments to be made on a district basis, Subodhini added, noting also that the Ministry will try to appoint prospective teachers to schools that are close to their residences. “The diploma holders were admitted to National Colleges of Education based on their General Certificate of Education Advanced Level Z-scores that are based on the district. But we will try our best to give them nearby schools because we want to reduce the number of appeals from teachers to change schools,” she said. Stating that the CTSU is in agreement with this basis of appointment, Jayasinghe claimed that the reason for the protest against the basis of the appointment in the first place was that when communicating their preferences for schools to the Ministry, prospective teachers could only select schools from other provinces. “The basis of admission, which should also be the basis of appointment, was divisional secretariat divisions and not districts”.  At present, a total of 3,772 diploma-holding prospective teachers who entered National Colleges of Education in 2016 await their formal appointments to schools.  


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