Teachers and Principals protest for the removal of salary anomalies

Colombo (News 1st): Representatives of a number of Teachers and Principals Trade Unions staged a protest demanding for salary anomalies to be removed. Teachers and Principals trade unions staged a protest opposite the Fort railway station today (Feb 14), demanding the salary anomalies among teachers and principals that had remained unsolved for the past 23 years be removed. The protesters also presented a number of other demands. Over 300 teachers and principals representing all districts in the country joined the protest and marched to the presidential secretariat. The protesters demonstrated obstructing one lane of the Galle road, and when security forces attempted to move them to the agitation site a tense situation arose. Later 10 protesters were given the opportunity to meet with an additional secretary of the presidential secretariat. However, discussions ended inconclusively. General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers' Union Joseph Stalin said;

"We were promised that discussions will be held with other parties and that we will be informed in writing on Monday. We were also told that we will be given the opportunity to hold discussions with all other interested parties before the 20th of this month. The manifesto of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stated that the teachers' and principals' services will be made a closed and inclusive service and that these issues will be solved. We want this relevant circular to be issued. If not 247,000 teachers and 15,000 principals serving at 10,164 schools in the country will report sick on the 26th of this month and move into our next course of action."

Meanwhile, depositors of The Finance financial institution also staged a protest opposite the presidential secretariat today. The depositors demanded that the government intervene to get their money back as the company is facing a risk of closing down. The flow of traffic was disrupted for about 2 hours opposite the presidential secretariat due to the protest. Further, the retired war veterans union also staged a protest opposite the presidential secretariat today. They were given the opportunity to hold discussions with an additional secretary. During discussions, an agreement was reached to grant them the pensions of war veterans who retired in 2016 that was previously slashed.