Hon. (Dr.) Madhura Senevirathna - Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, on behalf of the Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, I provide the following answer.

¶ 02 (a)(i) Number of National and Provincial schools in each district is as follows (summary by province and district provided). Grand Total: National Schools 396; Provincial Schools 9,700; Total 10,096. Source: School Census 2023.

¶ 03 (a)(ii) Total numbers of teachers and principals: - National Schools: Teachers 43,300; Principals 1,573 - Provincial Schools: Teachers 194,487; Principals 10,994 - Total: Teachers 237,787; Principals 12,567

¶ 04 (a)(iii) Total monthly and annual expenditure on salaries and emoluments for teachers and principals, separately, by district and category, are provided in detail in the annexure. [Placed in the Library.]

¶ 05 (a)(iv) Average monthly basic salaries (as per service grades):

¶ 06 Sri Lanka Teachers’ Service - Class 1, Class 2 (Grade I), Class 2 (Grade II) Officers Pay Code: GE 2-2025 Scale: 66,880–10x1,490–7x2,400–20x2,940–157,380 Starting basic: • Class 1 teacher – Rs. 98,580 • Class 2 (Grade I) teacher – Rs. 81,780 • Class 2 (Grade II) teacher – [as per scale]

¶ 07 - Class 3-I (a), Class 3-I (b), Class 3-I (c) and Class 3-II Officers Pay Code: GE 1-2025 Scale: 53,060–6x800–7x940–2x1,080–66,600 Starting basic: • Class 3-I (a) – Rs. 64,440 • Class 3-I (b) – Rs. 61,620 • Class 3-I (c) – Rs. 57,860 • Class 3-II – Rs. 53,060

¶ 08 (Administrative Circular No. 10/2025 dated 25.03.2025 and related annexures have been placed in the Library.)

¶ 09 (b)(i) Yes. As at 31.12.2024, the numbers of teacher vacancies in all National and Provincial schools are as follows: - National Schools: 1,497 - [Provincial breakdown by province provided in annexure.]

¶ 10 (b)(ii) As per Circular 06/2021, 2,464 library teacher vacancies have been excluded based on a policy decision not to recruit to that post hereafter.

¶ 11 Appointments: From the 2020–2022 National Diploma in Teaching batch, 3,987 diploma holders have been appointed to fill existing vacancies in National and Provincial schools with effect from 02.05.2025, by medium as follows:

¶ 12 - National Schools: Sinhala 968; Tamil 345; English 381 - Provincial Schools: Sinhala 1,134; Tamil 861; English 298 - Totals: Sinhala 2,102; Tamil 1,206; English 679

¶ 13 Recruitment of graduates to Sri Lanka Teachers’ Service pursuant to Gazette No. 2317 of 27.01.2023 has been temporarily restrained due to Supreme Court cases filed against that Gazette; the examination scheduled for 25.03.2023 could not be held. This has delayed the recruitment of 26,742 teachers expected under that Gazette and other recruitments. The Committee on Recruitment to the Public Service chaired by the Secretary to the Prime Minister is taking necessary further action to complete these recruitments.

¶ 14 Additionally, Cabinet Decision No. AMP/24/0693/601/047 dated 08.04.2024 approved recruitment of 2,500 English-medium teachers under the “English for All” programme.

¶ 15 For Tamil-medium estate sector schools, Gazette No. 2389 of 14.06.2024 was issued to recruit Teacher Assistants; however, due to Court of Appeal case CA (Writ) 519/2014, an interim order dated 09.08.2024 restrained the exam scheduled for 12.08.2024. Further action will be taken after conclusion of the case.

¶ 16 (b)(iii) Number of schools with fewer than 100 students: 3,148.

¶ 17 (b)(iv) The list of such schools by district is provided in the annexure. [Placed in the Library.]

¶ 18 (c)(i) Number of students admitted to Grade 1 (all schools: government, private and pirivena unless noted) in the past five years: - 2023: 298,959 - 2022: 303,868 - 2021 (government and private only): 315,363 - 2020 (government and private only): 330,571 - 2019 (government and private only): 343,912

¶ 19 (c)(ii) Projected Grade 1 admissions for the next five years (based on birth cohorts with an assumed 89% enrolment in government schools), by year of birth and intake, are provided in the annexure. Provisional statistics for 2024 (birth year 2018) indicate 281,659 for government schools; subsequent years are projected accordingly. [Placed in the Library.]

¶ 20 (d) Not applicable.