Ceylon Teachers' Union protests making acting principals permanent

Ceylon Teachers' Union protests the cabinet paper to grant permanent appointments to a large number of acting school principals who have failed to pass the recruitment process.

Around 4,000 acting principals are to be given permanent appointments under the government's measure.
Most of the appointments were given on political and bureaucratic influence, the opponents say. However, there are some acting principals who have been compelled to hold the position since there were no others to take over the administration of those schools.

The Ministry of Education brought the cabinet paper to make permanent the principals who were in the acting post for more than three years by November 13, 2009.

The Ministry granted appointments on November 13, 2009 to the principals that passed the competitive recruitment examination and the interview.

Most of the acting principals also sat for the examination and faced the interview. They were given maximum 75 marks extra in the interview for their service as acting principals. However, they have failed to qualify for the post.

Ceylon Teachers' Union urges the Ministry to abide by the service minutes of the principals' service when giving appointments to the principals. The Union further says that they will resort to legal measures if the Ministry proceeds to make the acting principals permanent.