Government teachers and principals who have so far been staging street demonstrations over their salary demands have taken their protests to a new level—doing so opposite schools where they earn their keep, thus reaching a new low in their continuing shameful and unacceptable conduct unbecoming of a noble profession. The teacher-principal trade union members yesterday were shown carrying black flags and banners opposite schools, shouting slogans demanding redress for their grievances. They are also planning to co-opt parents to join their protest campaign by taking up cudgels with the Government over alleged financial burdens placed on parents, in a clear bid to mobilize the parents to side with them (teachers) in order to win their salary demands.
General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers’ Services Union (CTSU) Mahinda Jayasinghe said the teachers and principals had held their demonstrations after school hours. However, he had failed to grasp the moral and ethical aspect of the whole issue. Here, we have a group of teachers, teaching at the same schools for a living, turning their backs on this very fact, falling prey to greed by staging demonstrations in front of the very schools they teach.
What message are they hoping to convey to the public, particularly the parents? Above all, what implications is their act going to have on the conduct of the very students whom they are not only responsible for educating but also providing with the necessary guidance and character bu.