Uni. teachers threaten authorities

9 April 2011 07:03 am Views - 6212

The Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) announced that they will take steps to vacate the university administration force by May 9 and would abstain from participating in the 2011 G.C.E. A/L examination evaluation process if their requests are left unanswered by the authorities.

FUTA Chairman Dr. Nimal Dewasiri told Daily Mirror online that administrative staff who would vacate by May 9 if their demands are left unresolved would include department heads as well as program coordinators of the universities. 

“Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake has expressed interest in having a discussion with us and we hope to receive a positive response to our demands at the discussion next week,” said Dr. Dewasiri. He also added that they had not yet received any response to the letter they wrote to President Mahinda Rajapaksa regarding the plight of the university academics in Sri Lanka and the FUTA demands.

According to FUTA, Sri Lanka has one of the lowest salary scales for university academics in the South Asian region and among their main demands is a substantial salary hike for the university lecturers. (Lakna Paranamanna)