The Hon. (Mrs.) Rohini Kumari Wijerathna

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chair, please grant me five more minutes—I had been informed. Also, former Minister Susil Premajayantha was keen on reforms; I do not know why it stopped. Hon. Minister, answer the questions I raised; practical answers will address real daily problems.

¶ 02 On human resources: the approved cadre for teachers is 235,924. The teacher-student ratio improved from 18:1 in 2015 to 16:1 in 2020, yet now there is a shortage of around 40,000 teachers. Don’t cover these with Development Officers; removing them from education would harm the sector—please consider carefully.

¶ 03 National Colleges of Education and Teacher Training Colleges must be updated for today’s needs. The Colleges of Education are a welfare base for teachers, producing well-trained teachers; they should be elevated to university level as discussed previously—please realize that.

¶ 04 On the two-thirds pay anomaly: I saw a video circulating on social media where Hon. Mahinda Jayasinghe says there is no two-thirds teacher pay anomaly. If the 2/97 Circular based on B.C. Perera Commission caused anomalies, then with subsequent increases how were anomalies removed? On 1 December 2020, I raised the issue in Parliament—this catalyzed the struggle. You tried hard to stop it; many only joined when success seemed near. Teachers know this. Hon. State Minister, if you say there is no two-thirds anomaly, then what about Waruni Asanka, 27, a primary teacher at Deniyaya Central, who died during that struggle—