Government must be blamed for school disruptions if union actions escalate: Stalin

Colombo, July 2 (Daily Mirror) - If the government does not understand their situation and ignores the trade union action, they will have to extend their actions to the schools. In that case, the government will be responsible for disrupting the education of schoolchildren, Ceylon Teachers' Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin said.

He told the media that several trade union actions have been taken since February after school hours (after 2p.m). 

"We informed the government that we will not resort to any trade union actions dutring school hours," Stalin added. 

"But the government ignored our actions, so we had to start a two-day sick leave campaign on June 26 and 27. Today, we will continue our trade union actions after 2 p.m.

"If the government does not understand the message we are sending, we have no options but to engage in our trade union actions during school hours. If we bring our trade union actions into the schools, the government will be responsible for disrupting the education of the children. We have informed the parents about this as well," Stalin said.

While condemning the President's statement on declaring school services as essential, Joseph Stalin said the President is attempting to make the teacher and principal services essential through suppression.