Sabaragamuwa Governor Navin Dissanayake said that applications are being called to recruit 800 new graduate teachers for the Sabaragamuwa Province.
He stated this while participating in a discussion with a group of unemployed graduates who were protesting in front of the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council office complex, Ratnapura on Wednesday (8).
Governor Dissanayake also said that recruitment examinations have already been held to recruit 800 graduate teachers. According to him, the recruitment of those teachers will be done in the next few weeks.
He also said that for the 800 teachers who will retire this year in the two districts of Ratnapura and Kegalle, necessary arrangements will be made to recruit 800 graduates for the provincial teaching service in the next few months.
The Governor said that all these recruitments are done according to the teachers’ service minute. He emphasised that he does not have the authority to change the age limit of 18-35 years to 18-45 years, which is a condition of the teachers’ service minute.
Governor Dissanayake said that because there are not enough Tamil medium graduates in the two districts of Ratnapura and Kegalle, applications had to be invited countrywide to recruit Tamil medium graduates.
Deputy Chief Secretary Susila Rajapaksa pointed out that 2,600 of the development officers attached to the Sabaragamuwa Province during the recent past are redundant.
Deputy Chief Secretary (Planning) of the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council Parakrama Piyasena said that according to a survey conducted by Provincial Council, 3,202 unemployed graduates have been registered in the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council since 2019.
Dharma Sri Abeyratne