Conduct unbecoming

First it was the teachers. Now it is the turn of the Principals. According to media reports some 3000 school principals are to tender their resignations today over the failure by the Ministry of Education to address their grievances. They are to assemble in a body opposite the Ministry to hand in their resignations.

If the resignations takes place as planned it would indeed be a sad day for the country’s education sector an act unprecedented anywhere in the world. It is not only shocking to say the least but also is a reflection of the times we live in where the country’s value system has undergone steady erosion. For, who would have contemplated School Principals resorting to ‘blackmail’ to win their demands.

For the first time in the annals of the country’s education sector a group of school principals are to resign en masse leaving the future of thousands of students in jeopardy. For how will schools functions without a head. Who will administer them?

What about the moral aspect of the whole affair? No doubt it is going to spell doom for discipline in our schools and society at large with our much venerated pedagogues treated in the same vein as common strikers.

For who will follow discipline when the fountainheads of the discipline and morality pay scant regard for such niceties in pursuing their selfish goals. This unprecedented nay unusual action no doubt is bound to make waves and shake the country’s education edifice to it’s very foundations, not to mention the deep impact this will leave on society as a whole.

Our school principals should come to terms with the fact that they are a segment held is esteem by society by virtue of their superior learning and their coveted role. The action contemplated could only diminish this image bringing the noble office to ridicule. They should also realise the consequences of their action. Their’s is a noble task of moulding the young to be productive citizens.

The mass resignations planned by them can only jeopardize this image of the public and lose for them all the respect and esteem earned by virtue of their professional calling.

It can only result in the rapid regression of all lofty values carefully nurtured over the years giving impunity to lesser minions to do as they please. Who in their right minds would have even contemplated that men of learning such as school principals who were looked upon with awe and reverence would resort to what amounts to trade union action casting them in the same mould as common agitators frequently seen either at the Lipton circus or opposite the Fort Railway Station.

According to media reports the Principals are scheduled to assemble opposite the Education Ministry at Isurupaya today and after a demonstration will hand over the resignations to an Education Ministry official. They are due to resign in batches and thereafter if their major demand of the delayed promotions are not acceded to by the schools second term.

There is no doubt that school principals occupy a special place in society by virtue of their position and stature and moreover their onerous responsibility. They should therefore deserve special treatment and in doing so be treated apart from other administrative types in the state sector.

For, it has been the argument of all Governments that concessions to one segment in the public sector could trigger a chain reaction with similar demands from other groups. We also admit that whatever grievance these principals have are certainly genuine ones for it is highly unlikely that their motives are designed to embarrass the Government. But all this does not give them the license hold the state to ransom to win their demands however justified .Being mature intelligent folk who are a cut above the rest in the country’s administrative totem pole they should have the good sense to avoid such desperate action of the type that is being contemplated and conducted themselves with circumspection.

Most of all they should have considered the esteemed position they hold in the eyes of the public which is certainly going to take a heavy beating if they go along with their planned action. Besides they should also think seriously of the timing of their action at a time the Government is only a whisker away from liberating the entire country from the terrorist menace and poised to usher in a new order in which the principals will have to play a not insignificant role.

This is also a time when appeals have gone out for sacrifice and all segments of society are called to endure difficulties amidst a costly war and when the world economic recession has imposed a heavy strain on the national economy.

School principals being learned men and women no doubt appreciate this situation more than any other segment. It is hoped that they would desist from their planned action that can only help those wishing to destabilize society and the country at large.