In a letter addressed to the IGP, the teachers and principals said that the forcible arrest was a violation of the people’s right to protest.
The School teachers and Principals Island wide are engaged in a trade union action that urge to the government to abolish the Kothalawala Act, which paved the way for the militarization and privatization of education, and force the government to the teacher-principal salary anomaly which unresolved for past 24-years.The teachers’ unions say they are holding protests in various parts of the country demanding a solution to their problems.
Police in riot gear stormed a rally on August 4, 2021, removing 44 protesters, including 16 female teachers, who were returning from a protest march in front of the Presidential Secretariat. A group of teachers, principals and parents who attended the teachers’ agitation in Kandy on August 1 and August 20, 2021 were summoned to court on August 11, 2021 after being reported to court by the police. Savitri Polraj, a teacher and political activist, was arrested by the police on the same day [09] and released on bail. [09] How the police have intervened to sabotage the protests of teachers and principals has informed the IGP.
Ceylon Teachers ‘Union, Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union, All Ceylon United Teachers ‘Union, Principals’ Service, Ceylon National Principals ‘Union, Independent Education Employees’ Union, Combined Teachers ‘Service Union, Ceylon Progressive Teachers’ Union, Catholic Teachers ‘Union, Faculty of Training Sciences and Graduate Teachers’ Union, Twenty five Teachers ‘and Principals’ Trade Unions including the Sri Lanka Islamic Teachers ‘Union, Ceylon Pirivena Teachers’ Service Union, Sri Lanka National Teachers ‘Union, Grade Principals’ Union, United Tamil Teachers ‘Union, All Ceylon Teachers’ Instructors ‘Union, Estate Teachers’ Union have added their signatures in this letter to the IGP.