At adjournment:

Teacher transfer system to be implemented

A teacher transfer system would be implemented from next year for national and provincial schools to establish a balance in teacher distribution, Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena said in Parliament Friday.

The minister made this observation in response to an adjournment motion moved by UPFA MP Janaka Wakkumbura.

Janaka Wakkumbura (UPFA): A proper mechanism should be formulated to recruit school teachers. This should be done with the coordination of Provincial Councils and the Central Government. Even though teachers are given appointments to rural schools, they do not serve in those schools at least for five years.

A countrywide teacher balance should be established.

UPFA MP Ranjith T Zoysa seconded the motion.

UPFA MPs Arundika Fernando and A H M Azwer also spoke.

Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena: There had been no teacher shortage in the country. There has been an imbalance of teacher distribution. There are 216,018 teachers in our country, which is more than that of the required number as mentioned in the circular.

But subjectwise, there has been a teacher shortage for subjects such as Maths, English, Tamil and also Primary education.

Compared to other countries, Sri Lanka has been in a good position with regard to teacher population. When calculated, the ratio is one teacher for 18 students in our country.

From 2012, we will implement a new school based recruitment system for teachers, to rectify the existing loopholes in the prevailing system.

These recruited teachers should remain in the same school at least for 5 years.

From next year, we will also implement a teacher transfer system. This would be carried out without taking into consideration whether it is a provincial school or national school, so that teachers can be transferred in between a provincial and a national school it required. The aim of this is to establish a balance in teacher distribution.