Shortage of teachers continues, some schools close down
The Government is still short of 20,000 teachers, despite implementing a spate of recruitment programmes, a senior Education Ministry official said. He said that it would not be possible to carry out the recruitment of these teachers this year due to financial constraints and a lack of trained persons to be enlisted. The official said that these shortcomings have been reported despite Cabinet approval being granted to recruit 2,500 Teacher Assistants pending them gaining a degree or a diploma within five years. In addition, approval has also been granted to recruit another 2,500 English medium teachers for GCE (O/L) and A/L classes.
Cabinet approval has been granted to recruit 5,000 more teachers to provincial schools this year. Despite the difficulties in filling the 20,000 vacancies, the Ministry is looking into the possibility of carrying out recruitment in small batches to minimize the inconvenience caused to schools due to the lack of teachers. He said that one of the obstacles to recruiting has been the pending court cases filed by various parties.
If the court cases are ended they would be able to go ahead with the recruitment programmes, he said. Educational activities have been affected in several schools due to the lack of teachers throughout the year, with some schools forced to close down. The worst affected have been schools which have 50 to 10 students and those only with primary classes. In some schools, A/L classes have been closed due to the non-availability of teachers. -DWI
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