- Notes Board coming under Edu. Ministry not Prez. Secretariat, unions to protest this week
- Edu. Minister defends decision as safeguarding O/L students
Speaking in Parliament yesterday (21) on a letter issued by the Presidential Secretariat dissolving the Teacher Transfer Board (TTB), Opposition and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Leader Sajith Premadasa said that the Presidential Secretariat has no power to issue such a letter as the TTB is operated under the Ministry of Education.
Speaking further, he told Parliament that the Director and the Deputy Director in charge of teacher transfers had been summoned to the Presidential Secretariat and that all the relevant details had been obtained by officials in the Presidential Secretariat before the said decision was made.
“The TTB did not operate for three years because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the political crisis. Therefore, 12,000 teachers had sent their applications and from among them, 7,000 applications had been selected for transfers. The whole procedure was almost completed and only the transfer letters were left to be sent to those who applied. The teachers who had been serving in the same school for more than 10 years, those who had difficulties in travelling, and teachers wanting a transfer to a so-called leading school had sent their applications. However, everything was over because of this illegal and arbitrary action taken by the Presidential Secretariat,” he noted.
He also emphasised that Minister of Education Attorney-at-Law Dr. Susil Premajayantha must look into this issue as soon as possible, considering this a serious issue which could affect the independence of the teacher service.
“In the recent meeting held on Monday (20) between the teachers’ trade unions and the Education Ministry Secretary, it was revealed that the Presidential Secretariat had summoned the relevant officials in the Ministry and obtained the details related to teachers’ transfers. Those Ministry officials were informed that the Presidential Secretariat would take a decision once they looked into the necessity of those transfers,” Premadasa said.
He raised this issue following the decision taken by President and Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilisation, and National Policies Ranil Wickremesinghe to dissolve the TTB with immediate effect.
Responding to the issue raised by Premadasa, Dr. Premajayantha said that these steps were taken after considering the inconvenience caused to the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level (O/L) and Advanced Level (A/L) students due to those transfers that were to be enacted next month.
“The most number of teachers who had applied for the transfers are from the upper sections. The Ministry has decided to hold the GCE O/L examination in May. Many teachers and students have said that the syllabi are not completed yet, so, we at the Ministry understood that this could affect the students if we transferred those teachers suddenly, as this process requires extended periods of time,” he added.
It was meanwhile reported that the discussion held between trade unions and the Secretary to the Ministry had ended without a resolution and that the Ceylon Teachers’ Union and the Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union are to stage a protest march today (22) and tomorrow (23).
Source By themorning.lk
