Image@ A teaches’ protest in Sri Lanka.
With the onset of Corona epidemic school closures started on March 12, 2020. Although more than a year and three months have passed since that process, the education authorities have not implemented any program regarding distance teaching. Online teaching has become the only option for the government to maintain the school education that collapsed during the Covid 19 epidemic, despite there are many distance education systems. However, neither the Ministry of Education nor the provincial education authorities have provided teachers with the facilities and Internet data required for online education. Currently online teaching is being done voluntarily by teachers at their own expense. More than 60% of children in the country have lost their education because of online based teaching.
Against this backdrop, the Ministry of Education, Provincial and Zonal Education Offices are monitoring the voluntary online teaching by teachers. We strongly condemn the supervision of voluntary teaching by the teachers without providing them with the necessary facilities. Also, some zonal education offices are strongly influencing teachers to teach online. Many children do not attend these online tutorials, and zonal education authorities are pressuring principals and teachers to get those connected children in any possible way.
We urge all teachers not to succumb to these pressures and not to allow their voluntary teaching to be monitored.
We also urge the education authorities to immediately stop influencing and supervising online learning in this way without providing any facilities to teachers or principals, and we also urge teachers who volunteer to teach online outside their duty not to succumb to such pressures.
Translated from the original Sinhala language statement issued by fellowing TUs.
Joseph Stalin – Secretary – Ceylon Teachers Union 0773112541
ජෝසප් ස්ටාලින් – ලේකම් – ලංකා ගුරු සංගමය 0773112541
Mahinda Jayasinghe – Secretary – Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union 0718297022
මහින්ද ජයසිංහ – ලේකම් – ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය 0718297022
All Ceylon United Teachers Union
සමස්ත ලංකා එක්සත් ගුරු සංගමය
Ceylon Principals’ Service Association
ලංකා විදුහල්පති සේවා සංගමය
Sri Lanka National Principals Association
ශ්රී ලංකා ජාතික විදුහල්පති සංගමය
Independent Education Employees Union
ස්වාධීන අධ්යාපන සේවක සංගමය
Ceylon prograssive Teachers Association
ලංකා ප්රගති ගුරු සංගමය
Independent Ceylon Teachers Union
ස්වාධීන ලංකා ගුරු සංගමය
Training and College Teachers Association
පුහුණු හා විද්යාපීඨ ගුරු සංගමය
Sri Lanka National Teachers Association
ශ්රී ලංකා ජාතික ගුරු සංගමය
Ceylon Association of Diploma holders in Agriculture and Home Science
ලංකා කෘෂි විද්යා, ගෘහ විද්යා ඩිප්ලෝමාධාරී සංගමය