Enter a new breed of graduate teachers manipulated by politics
The Presidential Secretariat has ordered a full investigation to determine whether disciplinary action should be taken over the conduct of certain Western Province graduate teachers during the ceremony held on Wednesday at Temple Trees to award letters of appointment to them.
The order had come following several complaints regarding what was deemed disrespectful behaviour by some of the graduate teachers.
The complaints related to some teachers refusing to rise when President Ranil Wickremesinghe, government ministers, and officials entered the hall, and teachers talking loudly amongst themselves or being on their phones as the ceremony was taking place.
Initial inquiries have revealed that the behaviour was part of an organised protest by a section of the teachers who are aligned with a certain political party, according to those in the President’s office and the Education Ministry. Officials claim they have unearthed WhatsApp messages in some teacher groups where those attending were told not to stand when the President and other government dignitaries arrived and left. Some of the messages show teachers present celebrating the fact that a large section refused to stand for the President and scolding those who had chosen to stand and ignore instructions sent via WhatsApp.
Initial inquiries have also uncovered that many of those who had exhibited such behaviour had approached a senior official attached to the Western Provincial Education Ministry to obtain transfers from the schools they had been initially appointed to. Further inquiries have revealed that this senior official is also aligned with the same political party, and she was also on some of the WhatsApp groups which organised the protest action against the President.
“We have already found that some of the teachers who behaved terribly that day had got their original appointments changed to schools closer to their places of residence due to the intervention of this particular official. Once the investigation is over, those who have used their political connections to obtain transfers in an unethical manner will have their transfers cancelled and sent back to their original schools,” said a senior official, commenting on the matter.
The official added that they had no issue with teachers holding differing political viewpoints but stressed that they must not engage in such “cheap tactics,” adding that if this is how such teachers behave, “we have questions on what they will be teaching their students when they eventually start their appointments.”
Initial inquiries have revealed that the behaviour was part of an organised protest by a section of the teachers who are aligned with a certain political party, according to those in the President’s office and the Education Ministry