Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith is embroiled in a controversy over attempts to reverse a claim that the Easter bombing was aimed at strengthening political power.
Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has announced that Catholic schools will be closed on April 21 without obtaining formal permission from the Ministry of Education, according to a leading teachers’ union in the country.
The Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) said in a statement that there was no such thing as a “Catholic school” in Sri Lanka.
“According to the cardinal, the schools that will be given leave on April 21 are government aided schools. These schools were taken over by the government under Acts No. 5 of 1960 and No. 8 of 1961, ”said Joseph Stalin, secretary of the association.
“The salaries of the teachers working in those schools are also paid by the Ministry of Education. These schools are governed and operated in accordance with the existing provisions as per the circulars issued by the Ministry of Education. There is a separate division of the Ministry of Education for the administration of these schools, which is staffed by a Director. In this context, the announcement by the Cardinal that the so-called Catholic schools will be closed on April 21 without the proper permission of the Ministry of Education is a serious problem. ”
Earlier, the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) had said that the Ministry of Education had declared a school holiday from April 9, but that the Cardinal had announced that Catholic schools would be closed from April 5 and that granting school holidays was also problematic.