The Education Ministry will grant 4,700 principal (Grade III) appointments next Saturday, ending a four-year wait to complete the process. Governors of the provinces will preside over the functions to be held in the nine provinces while Education Minister Susil Prmajayantha will attend the function of the Western Province to be held in Colombo. The examination to recruit the principals was held in 2019, but the granting of the appointments were delayed due to court cases filed against the appointments.
Recently a court case was concluded and permission was granted to go ahead with the appointments. Minister Premajayantha told the Education Times that due to the delays, in some schools there were teachers who were performing duties as acting principals. “The schools faced administrative and disciplinary issues during this period,” he said. Schools in remote areas were the worst affected. With the new appointments, it is hoped many of the difficulties will be resolved, the minister said. He added that with the promotion of 4,700 teachers to principals, there would now be a shortage of teachers in schools, and the Treasury has been asked to allocate funds for the recruitment process. (TWI)