Union alleges 1,700 unqualified appointments

By Lakna Paranamanna

The Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) accused the Education Ministry of making plans of recruiting nearly 1,700 officials that lack the required qualifications into the Sri Lanka Education Administrative Service (SLEAS).
“Previously these individuals were recruited to the education sector as political appointees but were given positions. However, they were paid the wages befitting positions. But when the pending Cabinet approval is granted they are going to be appointed to those positions,” pointed out the Union Convenor Joseph Stelyn. He also added that since 1994 some 4,000 such appointments have been made in the education sector under the political victimisations category.
According to Stelyn, last week the Cabinet had made a decision to grant authority to the Ministry Secretaries to approve recruitments for their respective ministries. He added that previously, when the Public Service Commission (PSC) was in operation, the approvals for recruitment processes were granted through the commission and not influenced politically. “There were even several instances where the PSC has rejected or made changes to the recruitment processes which were proposed by the Education Ministry,” he added.
He further remarked that the operation of PSC is vital for the survival of a free and fair state services sector and requested the government to immediately reinstate the commission.
However, a top official of the Education Ministry stated that in the current circumstances, as the operating period of the PSC had expired, they are only undergoing the usual process. “It is the normal procedure to hand over the authority of the PSC activities to the ministry secretaries during the absence of the Commission. We have to make sure that the people whom we serve through our services are benefited and our system works to the best of their interests. So, they cannot expect us to halt our activities just because the PSC is not in operation,” he added.