Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa is requesting the government to recruit development officers into the teaching service. He says that these officers have been working to address the teacher shortage in the country for 5-10 years.
Although it has been said on various occasions that this group will be absorbed into the teaching service, about 5,000 of them have left by now and about 17,000 are currently performing excellent service to overcome the teacher shortage, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa points out.
He recalls that the current government promised to recruit these development officers into the teaching service when it was in opposition.
He points out that according to a compromise proposal, they can be recruited as trainee teachers in Grade 2.2 and become permanent teachers by passing their postgraduate degrees.