The Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) revealed plans to launch a ‘work-to-rule’ campaign from tomorrow (22) protesting against the government’s inaction to resolve the teacher-principal wage disparities.

Accordingly, the CTU has decided engage in a work-to-rule campaign for a period of two weeks, commencing from tomorrow, in protest of the government’s lack of efforts to resolve their wage disparities.

The trade union leaders stated that accordingly, teachers and principals will not engage in any external professional activities including extra teaching hours after the scheduled school hours.

However, the trade unions led by Ven. Ulapane Sumangala Thero have refused to participate in the ‘work-to-rule’ campaign commencing tomorrow.

Speaking to the media, the Convenor of the National Collective Against Teachers’ & Principals’ Salary Disparities Ven. Ulapane Sumangala Thero said: “We have observed that some trade union leaders engage in trade union actions for the betterment of themselves. However, at the end, tear gas and water cannons are fired at the protesting teachers while the other parties benefit their political campaigns.”

“This work-to-rule campaign is yet another effort to strengthen this procedure.Teachers and principals lose their social acceptance and respect through such measures”, the Venerable Thero added.

Against this backdrop, the Minister of Education Susil Premajayantha pointed out that the planned trade union action will not directly impact the academic activities of students.

“Through this work-to-rule campaign, the teachers will perform their duties from 7.30 am to 1.30 pm. There’s nothing wrong in that. The school staff will manage other external activities in schools”, he added.