Over 5000 Principal posts vacant-Ceylon Teachers Union

Over 5,000 vacancies exist in the Principals' Service, while thousands of candidates who were selected following a Principal Selection Examination conducted in 2005, continue to await appointments in government schools, the Ceylon Teachers' Union (CTU) charged yesterday.

CTU General Secretary, Joseph Stalin pointed out that the Minister of Education, Bandula Gunawardena, had himself admitted there are 5,166 vacancies in the Principals' Service, with 926 of the vacancies existing in the Western Province alone.

Following the examinations conducted to select suitable candidates for the Principals' Service in 2005, approximately 1,980 principals of Grade 2 and 2,200 principals of Grade 3 were selected and were given appointments in November 2009. "However, most of the principals, who got through the exam, are yet to receive schools," Stalin claimed.

"Many qualified principals are serving as teachers, sectional heads and deputy principals in schools, as they have not been given appointments at government schools. It is disgraceful. There are such a large number of vacancies while there are many un-appointed principals who are capable of filling those vacancies," Stalin charged.

"The reason for not giving the principals appointments is because politically motivated appointments were handed out to acting-principals by the Ministry of Education," he alleged. Extract From Online CeylonToday