Teachers boycott marking of GCE A/L answer scripts
August 21st, 2007 - Filed Under General
Marking of GCE Advanced Level answer scripts was crippled yesterday when teachers boycotted the work under apparent pressure from five teacher trade unions.
According to trade unionists, paper marking at 16 centres out of the total 27 had ground to a halt.
Ceylon Teachers’ Services Union (CTSU) President Dhammika Alahapperuma told the Daily Mirror the combined trade union action was a great success, and vowed to continue with the action until the government sorted out the salary anomalies of teachers.
Among the marking centres that did not function yesterday were those located at the Central College, Anuradhapura, St. Joseph’s Balika Vidyalaya, Kegalle, Sujatha and Rahula Colleges in Matara and Maliyadeva Girls’ and Boys’ Colleges in Kurunegala.
Meanwhile Maradana police yesterday took in CTSU General Secretary and a few other trade union activists for questioning when they were distributing leaflets among teachers who had come to participate at the seminar on marking answer scripts of Physics and Combined Maths at Ananda College, Colombo.
Examinations Commissioner General Anura Edirisinghe said they were able to conduct paper marking at a few centres. He said these trade unionists had even threatened with death some teachers who turned up for paper marking at various centres. “We hope that the situation will become normal by tomorrow,” he said.
Commenting on the issue, Education Minister Susil Premajayantha said the Ministry had taken every possible step to resolve the salary problem of teachers.
He said he would discuss with the Treasury tomorrow to obtain funds required to address the problem.