The Hon. Sivagnanam Shritharan

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, I wish to record an important matter during today’s debate on the Resolution under the Customs Ordinance.

¶ 02 At present, teacher appointments are being issued to trainees who have passed out from National Colleges of Education (NCOEs). These trainees were selected, both in English-medium and Tamil-medium, to fill subject-wise vacancies in their respective districts. However, despite existing vacancies in those districts, many selected trainees are being posted to far-away districts.

¶ 03 For example, trainees selected on the district quota from Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya are being appointed to districts such as Kalutara, Kegalle and Ratnapura after they complete their three-year training. This prevents them from performing their duties effectively. Some are even posted to Sinhala-medium schools in districts like Kalutara where there is no real need for Tamil-medium teachers, while real vacancies remain in places like Kilinochchi.

¶ 04 This is extremely unfair. District Secretariats and Zonal Education Offices identify vacancies and numbers per subject, and based on that, trainees are admitted to the NCOEs. If the selection had been on an all-island quota with a condition to serve anywhere, it would be different. But when trainees are recruited on district and divisional vacancies, posting them elsewhere after training is wrong.

¶ 05 To cite a case: a trainee teacher from Urkavalthurai (Point Pedro), Jaffna, after completing the three-year programme, has been appointed to Kalutara. Her mother is bedridden. On a salary of about Rs. 50,000, she cannot afford rent in Kalutara, her own living costs and travel, and also care for her ailing mother. Similarly, a trainee from Kilinochchi has been posted to Kalutara and cannot cover food, rent and weekly travel back home on his pay. This is untenable.

¶ 06 I discussed this with the Hon. Prime Minister (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya in the Parliamentary canteen a short while ago. She said she would consider it and asked what could be done for southern schools as they too have needs. I replied that when trainees are selected to NCOEs on the basis of district and divisional vacancies, they should be admitted from among suitable local candidates to serve those identified vacancies. Posting Northern and Eastern trainees far away causes severe hardship, especially to those already affected by the war who studied under difficult circumstances and joined NCOEs because they could not enter university.

¶ 07 This is a humanitarian issue. If, nevertheless, some have to go out of district, there must be an assurance in their appointment letters that they will be eligible for a transfer back to their home district within two or three years. Then they can serve temporarily away and return, while newly appointed teachers can take over in those distant schools. At present, an eight-year transfer bar is imposed, which is a punishment for these young teachers and imposes great hardship on them and their families.

¶ 08 I urge the Government to adopt such safeguards and show greater consideration in these appointments. Thank you.