Politicians’ future uncertain if salary issue not resolved by Poson Poya: Teachers’ Principles’ Union

Colombo, May 30 (Daily Mirror) - If politicians fail to resolve the salary anomaly issue of teachers and principals before Poson Poya, their political future will be uncertain, the National Teachers' Power (NTP) said.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, its media spokesman, Amuthu Bandara, said the first day of the two-day sick leave campaign launched by the National Teachers' Power (NTP) to demonstrate the strength of the teachers' and principals' unions was successful.

He said that over 70 percent of teachers and principals had engaged with the two-day sick leave campaign.

"The islandwide two-day sick leave campaign was demanding the government to resolve the salary anomalies of school principals and teachers, which have remained unanswered for the past 27 years. This strike action was launched against the enforcement from the traditional teachers and principals unions," he said.

"As teachers and principals, we interact with over five million people in the country and are the driving force behind shaping society. There are 265,000 of us, dealing with 4.4 million schoolchildren and 8.8 million parents."

"Therefore, we have the potential to bring leaders to power or remove them. We are a powerful community within society, capable of spreading positive or negative ideologies that can significantly impact leaders."

"After tomorrow, we will make the future of politicians uncertain if they do not take action to resolve our issues," Bandara said.

He also said that all parliamentarians must bear the responsibility for the lack of education for children over these two days.

When contacted about the two-day sick leave campaign, the Education Ministry Secretary stated that she could not comment.