Teachers in government schools are in for a bright, and, prosperous New Year. Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam has announced a ‘hefty’ salary increase for the 250,000 teachers islandwide from the beginning of next year. A committee has already been appointed to look into the matter of increasing efficiency among teachers. A meeting was also held by the minister with education sector trade union representatives and he requested them to submit proposals to the committee. “I admit that teachers draw one of the lowest salaries in the public service. They also have salary anomalies and their pay has not been revised for several years. My intention is to give them a respectable salary. I hope we will be able to increase the efficiency and productivity of the teachers by introducing these reforms to the education sector,” the minister was quoted as saying in media reports.
If there is a segment in the public sector who deserve a salary increase more than any other, it is the country’s teaching population. In them lay the responsibility of moulding the country’s future generation, not only in imparting knowledge but also in the area of character building and in the creation of a rounded individual who will not be a misfit in society. Hence, theirs’ is an onerous task albeit for little reward. They do not have the luxury of engaging in strikes like our doctors in the GMOA. Nor do they stage street protests or satyagrahas to draw attention to their plight. Like the minister himself conceded teachers are among the most poorly paid in the Government service.
Hence it is commendable that the minister has taken positive steps to redress this anomaly. We say this because recently the salaries and allowances of University dons were increased to appreciable levels. However, the teachers were overlooked. While admitting that the top academics in the Universities number only a few compared to the teacher population one is inclined to feel that an injustice may have been committed. Our teachers deserve all the recognition accorded to doctors and members of other professions. Like them, the teachers too are looked up to by society for the noble profession they are engaged in. In the good old days, it is to the ‘loku iskolay mahattaya’ (school principal) that the villagers traditionally went for counsel. Also it is the self same ‘iskolay mahahattaya’ that the rural folk sought to feed the first mouthful of rice (indul kata gema) to their young children. Though this custom may be on the wane in this modern day and age the respect and regard for our teachers still remain intact.
Hence, the need for the Government to appreciate their role and treat them with due honour. Their salaries should be taken up for review with the same frequency that the Government does for the salaries of doctors, nurses and engine drivers et al, particularly given the high living costs of the present day. Teacher transfers too should be properly streamlined to ensure no injustice is done, and, more importantly, to obviate the need for going behind politicians for the purpose. They also should be made entitled to all the concessionary facilities offered by the government to all public servants, such as housing loans and insurance. Steps should also be taken to improve the conditions in rural schools, most of which lack teachers and basic facilities. It goes without saying the teachers should be provided with a conducive environment for more productivity. It is natural therefore for the teachers to shun schools in remote areas for want of proper facilities. Some of the schools, especially in the estate areas, have no water and toilet facilities, as often reported in the media. While improving the lot of the teachers, measures should also be taken to develop infrastructure in rural schools.
Allegations of mismanagement in some of the more prestigious schools, highlighted in the media, should also engage the minister’s attention. Most of these charges are directed at the school principals and involve embezzlement of funds and malpractices in school admissions. Needless to say, these only go to sully the reputation of the schools concerned and more importantly, casts a slur on the teaching profession as a whole. It was once claimed by a Minister of Sports in the Rajapaksa Government that the highest number of malpractices were observed in the Education sector followed by the Police and the Cricket Board.
Now that the minister has introduced salary reforms, delivering the teachers out of the raw deal they had been receiving all these years, the teachers should redouble their efforts to serve the student population with extra vigour and efficiency. There had been complaints, with justification, that present days teachers are lacking in enthusiasm in the classroom, chiefly with an eye on private tuition which today has become a booming industry and a money-spinner. They should forgo the practice, if they could help it, and pay more attention to their charges in the classrooms, lest they be bracketed with the Government doctors who similarly make only casual inspections of patients who come to them, to rush forth to their high paying private practice centres.
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