Uplift of education in South, President’s wish

D.C. de Silva Kahawa special corr.

School Principals are duty bound to reply with immediate effect, to the relevant Education Office, when they are asked to provide information about their schools, said Southern Province Governor Kumari Balasuriya at Galle.

She was addressing a meeting of School Principals from Akmeemana and Galle Educational Zones, who met her at Governor’s Office at Galle.

The meeting was to discuss prevailing shortcomings in schools, due to shortage of teachers in those schools.

The Governor said, Galle and Matara areas are having an excess of teachers. I don’t interfere in teacher transfers any how, as the subject is to be handled by the Education Authorities.

There was not a single child who had passed last years Grade 5 scholarship examination from the Yakkalamulla area.

She said, there were occasions where some teachers sought transfers just after six or eight months of their first appointment. The out come of this situation would be informing the Chief Minister for his information.

The Governor said, “President Mahinda Rajapaksa has entrusted me with the charge to look specially on the uplift of education in the Southern Province.

If a Teacher comes on a transfer to your school, when your staff is in excess of teachers, don’t allow the newcomer to sign the attendance in your school, she told the Principals. Principals who did not attend this meeting without prior notice would be dealt with by the Provincial Directors and Zonal Directors” she stressed.

“Everything we do must be for the good of the country and nation and as such, we must be transparent always,” she told the Principals.

She said National Schools in the Province are in excess of Teachers. “Vast expenditure on education is a must for our consideration,” she noted.

SPC Education Director N.J. Karunadasa and several others also spoke.