United National Party (UNP) Deputy Leader Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said teachers and principals should arrive at an agreement and solve the existing problems prior to reopening of schools.
Expressing his views to the media yesterday (7), the former Education Minister said the government has announced that 3000 schools with less than 200 students in primary classes will commence on October 21.
The teachers’ problems should be resolved prior to that, he said.
In 2015, we increased salaries of government employees by 140 percent. A committee was appointed in 2018 to solve the salary anomalies and based on recommendations made by the committee, we submitted a Cabinet Paper in 2019 and obtained approval and we had planned to pay from 2020 and allocated money.He said that the demands put forward by teachers and principals to solve their salary anomalies is justified.
“The government and teachers’ unions should arrive at a consensus and immediately resolve these problems. If not, it would mean that the future of hundreds of thousands of students will be lead into darkness. If it is not possible to pay everything at once, a fair amount should be paid through the budget 2022 and can be paid in installments annually. Both factions should give priority to the education of children. During the time schools were closed we requested the government to telecast lessons based on subject syllabuses over television services.
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