80 % teachers reported for duty on Thursday - Education Minister

Uditha Kumarasinghe Irangika Range and Sandasen Marasinghe

Education Minister Susil Premajayantha completely denying the false information presented on the education sector regarding Thursday's token strike said 80 per cent of teachers countrywide had reported to work on Thursday.

Education Ministry officially obtained details from schools countrywide on the attendance of teachers on Thursday.

According to our official figures 84 per cent of teachers in the Colombo Educational Zone had reported for duty on Thursday, out of 6299 teachers in the Colombo educational zone, 5224 had reported for work.

In addition, the reports sent by the Provincial Educational Authorities have confirmed that 80 per cent of teachers islandwide had reported for duty.

However, there was a decline in the attendance of students to schools in urban areas on Thursday due to decision taken by parents not to send children to schools. There was also a decline in the operation of school van services. This also contributed to the drop in the attendance of students the Minister said.

Compared with Wednesday's attendance of Education Ministry employees 34 more employees had reported for work on Thursday, he added.

The Minister making a special statement in Parliament said various distorted facts were presented to the House regarding the participation of those connected to the education sector in Thursday's token strike organised by the JVP with several other political parties.