The Secretary of the Sri Lanka Teachers’ Union, Joseph Starling, said that the budget this year has not paid attention to the report of the Welfare Committee regarding the increase in teacher and principal salaries. He made this statement at a media briefing held in Colombo.
He stated that the budget this year was expecting an increase in the salaries of teachers and principals, including public servants, and that teachers and principals had waged a great struggle to remove the teacher salary discrepancy.
He said that according to the Subhodhini Committee report, steps were taken in 2022 to provide 1/3 of the relevant salary discrepancy, and that a huge struggle was waged against the government to obtain the remaining 2/3.
He said that the absence of any reference to the Subodhani Committee report in this year’s budget is considered a serious issue, and that although the Prime Minister stated that the principal service is in seventh place and the teacher service is in eighth place according to the salary structure, this is incorrect information, and that the teacher service is in 12th place according to the salary structure.
He also said that the salary structure of special grade nurses, the upper class of the management service and the police, who were below the teacher grade, has increased since 1997.