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Cabinet approves circular amendment for teachers’ pay hike

04 Jan 2022

  • Salary scales to be introduced
  • Teacher advisor service to be established
BY Buddhika Samaraweera In a bid to resolve the salary anomalies in the field of education, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposals made by Education Minister Dinesh Gunawardena to amend the Public Administration Circular 03/2016 to introduce salary scales for the teacher advisor service and to eliminate salary anomalies in the teachers’ and principals’ services, according to Co-Cabinet Spokesman Dr. Ramesh Pathirana. In 2018, the Education Ministry had submitted a proposal prepared in consultation with the trade unions to the then Special Salaries and Remuneration Commission regarding the elimination of salary anomalies in the teacher-principal services. Accordingly, speaking at the weekly cabinet media briefing yesterday (4), Dr. Pathirana said that cabinet approval had been granted to base the said proposal on the elimination of salary anomalies in the teacher-principal services. He further said that necessary monetary provisions for the resolution of salary anomalies have been made through the 2022 Budget proposal. “However, the teacher advisor service was not established at the time of preparing the relevant salary proposal in 2018. Therefore, the Cabinet approved the proposals made by Gunawardena to amend the Public Administration Circular 03/2016 to introduce salary scales for the said service and to eliminate salary anomalies in the teacher-principal services,” he added. Recalling that the Government had promised to increase the salaries of teachers and principals from January 2022 as a solution to the teacher-principal salary anomaly issue, Ceylon Teachers’ Union General Secretary Joseph Stalin charged last week that the relevant circulars, however, have not been issued yet. “In order to increase the salaries, the relevant circulars have to be issued by 5 January, but the Education Ministry has not done anything to issue them so far. In this situation, if the increased amount is not received with the salary that we get on 20 January, a massive trade union action will be launched,” he warned. Nearly 30 teachers’ and principals’ trade unions attached to the Teachers’ and Principals’ Trade Union Alliance embarked on a number of trade union actions, including withdrawal from all physical and online teaching activities and examination-related duties, demanding a solution to the teacher-principal salary anomaly issue since 12 July 2021. However, following the Government’s announcement that the teachers’ and principals’ salaries will be increased from January, the trade unions suspended the said trade union actions until 20 January 2022.


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