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Over 100 non-teacher unions join teachers

16 Aug 2021

  • Day of solidarity on 19 August
  • Second round of talks with Govt. this week
BY Buddhika Samaraweera More than 100 trade unions from multiple sectors have declared a day of solidarity on Thursday, 19 August in support of the actions initiated by teachers and principals demanding a solution to their salary anomaly issue, among others, teachers’ unions told The Morning. Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) President Priyantha Fernando yesterday (16) said that a number of trade unions representing the sectors of electricity, ports, railways, health, water supply and drainage, management services, estates, transport, and telecommunications have announced this day of solidarity. He said it was organised as a result of the recent discussions between them and the trade unions representing other sectors. In addition, the teachers’ and principals’ trade unions have also decided to stage a protest in the digital sphere today (17) against what they claim to be the Government’s continuous failure to address their issues. Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union (CTSU) General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe told The Morning that they would protest in the digital space through poems, cartoons, videos, and short films. The digital protest is part of a series of trade union actions that have been initiated by the teachers’ and principals’ trade unions to force the Government to address the teachers’ and principals’ issues, including that of the salary anomaly. The teachers’ and principals’ trade unions recently commenced obtaining signatures for an online petition to force the Government to intervene immediately to resolve their issues, and it had received around 50,000 signatures as of yesterday (16) morning, according to him. Jayasinghe added that another round of talks with representatives of all Government and Opposition political parties is scheduled for this week to find a solution to their issues. The teachers’ and principals’ trade unions had decided to hold discussions with all Government and Opposition political parties from 13 August onwards. Nearly 30 teachers’ and principals’ trade unions decided to withdraw from all online teaching activities from 12 July until further notice, in protest over the arrest of a group of trade unionists and student activists, including CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin, during a protest in Colombo, and the lack of a solution to the teacher-principal salary anomaly issue. In addition to online teaching activities, they also withdrew from duties related to sending applications for examinations online, including that of the GCE Advanced Level (A/L) examination. Teachers and principals also withdrew from teaching activities at regional learning centres recently established by the Ministry of Education in order to facilitate the educational activities of students who do not have adequate facilities to learn online. Also, nearly 5,800 teachers and principals decided to withdraw from practical examinations related to duties of the GCE Ordinary Level (O/L) examination that was to commence on 26 July. In addition, they have also decided to withdraw from duties related to the GCE A/L and Grade Five Scholarship examinations that are to be held in November 2021.


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