Teaching appointments uneven

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Hardly a week after unemployed graduates forced the Sri Lanka Government (SLG) to appoint 1000 graduate teachers from the Northeast Province, allegations of favouritism have surfaced over appointments in the Jaffna District, said sources in Jaffna.

Applications for the posts were called at the Divisional Secretariat (DS) level and the applicants have been allocated their schools from within the DS areas they applied from.

This has led to schools in certain DS areas in Jaffna not being allocated teachers at all, while in areas where there are already excess teachers, more teachers were assigned, said sources.

For instance in the Maruthankerny DS area where 75 teachers are required, only two have been appointed.

The bulk of the new appointments went to Pt. Pedro, Kopay, Karaveddi, Uduvil and Tellipalai, although these areas already had adequate supplies of teachers. This imbalance has been caused by fewer people applying for the post in areas like Maruthankerny, which is generally quite deprived and therefore has fewer graduates.

Meanwhile, sources said that while 340 unemployed graduates are yet to receive their appointments in the Jaffna District, seven people already employed as facilitators in the Samudhri (poverty alleviation) programme, have been given letters of appointment.

Another strange appointment is that of a public servant working in the Ministry of Social Services in Muthur, being posted in Karaveddi, said sources.

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