Two-day strike by principals, teachers from today

The Ceylon Teachers' and Principals’ Services Union yesterday said its members would begin a two-day token strike from today opposite the Fort Railway Station as scheduled over several demands including salary anomalies.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, the Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin said all teachers and principals would refrain from their educational activities such as scrutinising answer scripts, participating workshops organised by the Education Ministry and any related activities in schools.

All teachers and principals would participate in the token strike by applying for medical leave, he said.

"We earlier held a 24-hour countrywide token on March 13 demanding to solve the salary anomalies. But we did not receive any reply from the government. We also informed about today's token strike, but still no consideration was placed," Mr. Stalin said

Therefore, we request all teachers and principals to gather opposite the Fort Railway Station and participate in the demonstration. The government so far has not taken any decision to respond to our demands since 1997," Mr. Stalin said.

The teachers' and principals' service in our country get the lowest salaries compared to other countries. “Therefore, we demand the government to consider our demands and provide a solution as soon as possible,” he said.

Mr. Stalin said the token strike would be based on five main demands: pension rights for the teachers of pirivenas and government-assisted schools, which they have been deprived of since 2016, freeing teachers from unnecessary filling of forms during administrative issues, Allocation of 6% of GDP for education and salary increments for principals and teachers by removing their salary anomalies. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)