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| Wednesday, 22 October 2003 |
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by Manjula Fernando The Association of Education Professionals who organised the teachers sick note campaign yesterday said their attempt was a total success. The Education Ministry however, refuted their claims saying the schools were hardly affected due to the token strike although the union expected nearly 75,000 teachers to join this bid. According to official sources the Colombo schools had functioned as usual although there was a visible drop in the number of teachers in attendance. The most affected had been the Southern Province schools. The Education Ministry charged their strike bid was tainted by dirty politics while the AEP Secretary Wasantha Dharmasiri defended that it was organised by the AEP to protest against the inaction of authorities to rectify teachers' long-standing grievances. A ministry spokesman said yesterday's action was 'unacceptable' since Minister Dr.Karunasena Kodituwakku has already taken steps to submit nine Cabinet papers with measures to rectify teachers' grievances and several of these proposals have already been approved. As a result, out of 176,000 teachers in the state sector, 140,000 are to receive pay hikes and promotions shortly. The strikers announced on Monday that the effort was to demand immediate action to write off salary anomalies, regulate improper teacher transfers, effect due promotions and an early settlement to the administrative crisis at the leading girls school in Bambalapitiya and the Embilipitiya national school among other things. "We are set to take drastic action if authorities continue to ignore our demands," Dharmasiri said. Meanwhile, the students of a leading girls schools in Bambalapitiya continued their protest campaign wearing black wrist bands inside the school yesterday. The protest against their principal is set to continue until action was taken by the authorities to settle the issue once and for all, a parent said. A petition seeking intervention by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was also sent to her office by the senior students yesterday. |
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