Who is responsible for the parlous state of education in the Northern Province? Who is to answer?

When everyone in education is corrupt, the corruption has to reach the lower school classes, the prestigious admission to Year 1 

– Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

By N. Lohathayalan

Excess of primary teachers

Of the 18,000 teachers in the Northern Province, 2,628 are volunteers. The question is being raised whether this is one of the principal reasons for the State being backward in education.

Although 18,000 are working as teachers, when it comes to the Northern Province, about 6,000 are assigned to the beginning (or primary) grades (Grades 1-5). When 6,000 out of 18,000 teachers are already in primary grades, the new 2,628 are also assigned to primary grades. That is, almost 40% of teachers are engaged in laying the foundations of education by teaching in the beginning grades.

The lower grades lay the foundation for any education system. Those who lay these foundations do not bring much in terms of skills. So students are short-changed. They come into the volunteer teacher service, as if scooped up with both hands and thrown into the system as a gift, based on the recommendations of principals, politicians and administrators in the system. In particular, most appointments were in the Kilinochchi District. Of the 2,628 volunteer teachers, almost a half obtained their appointment in Kilinochchi.

40% of teachers in the primary grades have only voluntary teacher appointments

Many of those who received appointments in Kilinochchi have secured transfers and moved to other districts of the province. Most of these have moved to the Jaffna District. Despite these transfers, in Kilinochchi District, the primary grade slots are dominated by volunteer teachers.

Good and bad districts

Today in Kilinochchi District there are108 schools employing 3,850 teachers of whom 1,550 are in primary teaching. Of these 1,550 primary teachers, 637 are volunteer teachers. That is, even now, over 40% are volunteer teachers. In Mannar there are 1,756 teachers. 

Of these 551 are primary teachers; out of these 551 primary teachers 221 teachers came as voluntary teachers. Yet few have gone out on transfers. It is like this in the North in Jaffna, Mullaitivu, and Vavuniya Districts. Teachers stay on in good districts and flee the uncomfortable areas.

This sad situation of excessive teachers in educationally well-to-do districts and scarcity in the worse-off districts is not seen in any other province or district in Sri Lanka. Appointments are mostly given for political purposes.

If one can join as a volunteer teacher after the age of 50 as often happens, when is one such appointee trained and when and for how long is one to serve?

Recruitment after age 50

When politically influential volunteer teachers are appointable through peddling their influence after the age of 50, most problematically we see unusual persons – persons returning from overseas, traders and relatives of education administrators – being given letters of recommendation from principals and receiving appointments. In one school in Kilinochchi with 450 students on roll, there were 15 permanent cadre teachers. Yet the principal certified that there were 12 volunteer teachers. All successfully secured permanent appointments.

When teacher appointments are so badly thought out, from the appointment of principals to that of zonal directors, everything is unsatisfactory and a disgrace. Those who failed in the selection process for principals have successfully made it to principal.

Face-to-face interview for show but appointments on political proposals

Including the appointment of principals, after holding face-to-face interviews for public consumption, principals’ appointments occur based on political proposals. Just like that, in city schools there is heavy fighting for places compared to village schools.

Even in days education was well developed, our glorious past, we have the example of someone who crept into teaching service with mere O/Levels and then became Zonal Director of Education. This is the unique achievement of upward job mobility in the Northern Province. 

If these findings here reported are rejected by the Education Ministry, every word in this article has provable meaning because my findings are based on extensive RTI requests. With this sad state of educational administration, the state of teacher resource development is far worse. This is because provincial vacancies for teachers in mathematics, science and English number about 400. 

At the same time, in the Jaffna Zone there are 300 teachers in excess for these very same subjects. Such Mathematics/Science teachers in the excess cadre are teaching primary children the subjects like religion for having no subject in their specialty to teach. 

In outside districts, some teach for eight or 10 years. However, the relatives of administrators even after 15 years from appointment manage to stay put in city schools.  When questioned, they say they have the administrative power.

Sharing resources seems confined to words

In many schools the list of teacher vacancies keeps lengthening. At the same time, at schools in the middle of town there is an excess of teachers. For example, in a school with hardly 350 students there are 43 teachers; likewise a school with 19 students has 13 teachers, and a school with 17 students has nine teachers.

On top of these there is yet another problem that gnaws at our hearts. This applies only to the Northern Province. It has to do with the cruelties of war to which the people of the north have been exposed more than any other. None can deny this.

Statistics that point to this is seen in the Northern Province having the dubious distinction of having the most teachers in service afflicted by psychiatric ailments.

That is, in the Northern Province 347 teachers are afflicted by psychiatric conditions. At the same time, doctors have issued certificates stating that if they are terminated from service, their psychiatric conditions will worsen. Not knowing what to do, such teachers are allowed to populate the teacher rolls. 

If such teachers are retired and they come back with medical certificates saying their illness would be accentuated, what would happen? There is no answer to the question as to whether we should decide that matter before the teachers go away.

This situation also applies to administrators some of whom too have psychiatric ailments It is the state of education in Jaffna to answer how the system is to be rectified and moved forward, when, by whom. It is also a puzzle as to who will even offer answers to these questions.

Corruption reaching down to Year 1 admissions

When everyone in education is corrupt, the corruption has to reach the lower school classes, the prestigious admission to Year 1.

The parents of a girl-child wanted 2020 admission for their daughter to Year 1 in either of the two most sought after primary schools in Jaffna. The child was found to have inadequate marks at the interview. They tried here and there, high and low, education officials, politicians, et al. Nothing worked after six weeks of trying hard. 

Then a friend took them to a jewellery shop. “What a simple matter,” said the Mudalali. With one telephone call, the child received admission the next day, and is studying in the school now.

Children who come up this way will surely carry the corrupt ways tried by their parents and the school principal. Who will break the chain?