PM hopes to review laws that hamper maintaining school discipline

Says will make teaching a closed service The whole country is in ruins if teachers were forced to kneel down. Our parents need to understand this

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said the government hoped to review the laws that would get in the way of teachers when maintaining discipline in schools.

Prime Minister Rajapaksa said they were studying the experiences in other countries in this regard.

“You know we have no power in this Parliament to pass a Bill. Whatever we do, we have to do them after the general election. Until then, I would like to propose that parents and teachers work together to find out what kind of support parents could offer to teachers when maintaining school children’s discipline,” he said speaking at the scholarship awarding ceremony of the Education Co-operative Society held at Temple Trees.

Today, he said some teachers are scared to give a child a warning or even a piece of advice because of short-sighted laws that have been introduced.

“If a child lodges a police complaint against a teacher, the first thing that is being done is remanding the teacher. They get suspended and also have to pay legal expenses. Parents need to understand that the loss of teachers’ authority in schools will affect everyone, including their children. If, like in the past, the teachers had full authority in the school, we would not hear the stories of drug dealers roaming around the schools. Drug dealers roam around some schools. And there are instances when students sell drugs to other students,” he said.

He said there were also politicians who went to school and made teachers kneel down saying disciplinary action was taken against their children.

“The whole country is in ruins if teachers were forced to kneel down. Our parents need to understand this,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said teaching profession in other countries is a profession like medicine and engineering but the Teaching Service in Sri Lanka is divided into five sections. “We hope to combine all these sections and make Teaching profession a closed service and give it the due place. Minister Dullas Alahapperuma has already submitted a cabinet paper in this regard. Our government stands by teachers. I wish the best to all the scholarship recipients of the Education Cooperative Society,” he said.