Education Administrative service in jeopardy

COLOMBO (News 1^st) - It is widely accepted that criticizing education itself is not a good thing. Therefore here in Sri Lanka, the time has come for those in a responsible position to take note of the present situation. There is an attempt to include 1014 under qualified people to the Education Administrative Service under the guise of those who have been provided relief for political victimization. In the latest attempt made by the Education Ministry to cover-up the inclusion of under-qualified people to the service, the Secretary to the Ministry of Education writes a letter to the Public Services Commission. This letter was in response to a request made by the Public Services Commission to release the personal files of all 1014 people in question, into their custody. On the 05^th of July speaking in Parliament, the subject minister made a statement regarding the list of those who are to be given relief for political victimization. He stated that relief was given to the people who were victimized in a proper manner and all the appeals were inspected by a committee comprising of senior public officials. They were inspected by the Public Services Commission as well, said the Subject Minister adding that grading was only given to 1018 persons and it was done according to a proper process. He said if anyone claimed an appointment was given to a person who does not deserve it, that is similar to challenging the Public Services Commission. On the 10^th of July, the Public Services Commission made the following clarification making invalid the statement made by the Minister. When the Chairman of the Public Sevices Commission, B. Dissanayake was questioned if they approve the appointment of unsuitable persons citing political victimization, he responded by stating that the question should be directed to the Chairman of the Education Service Committee. The Secretary of the Education Service Committee of Public Services Commission, Namal Bandara said that since they are bound to implement the state decisions they will implement the governments' decision. Six days later, the Public Services Commission requested the Ministry of Education to release the personal files of all 1014 individuals for the purpose of ascertaining their qualifications. Rather than complying with this request, the Secretary to the Ministry responds to the commission by saying that the personal files have been considered and no disciplinary issues were found in them. The Education Ministry would have been capable of going through the personal files 1014 people within a period of 08 days if they obtained the assistance of all 98 Zonal Offices via the 09 Provincial Education Directors. This is because these 1014 personal files are spread across the 98 Zonal Offices. It is now the responsibility of the Public Services Commission to ascertain whether the Education Ministry even made a phone call to the Zonal Offices to question the qualifications of at least one of the 1014 Individuals in question.