Island-Wide Teacher Shortage Reaches 40,000
A specific number will be brought into the Teaching Service by the year’s end – Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya
Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya highlighted that there is a current shortfall of 40,000 teachers nationwide, and the government plans to address a portion of these openings by the year’s end.
These comments were made by the Prime Minister in Parliament today (21), in response to a query posed by opposition member Mujibur Rahuman.
The Prime Minister also noted:
At present, there are 4,240 teacher openings in the Sinhala medium and 2,827 in the Tamil medium for Grades 1 to 5 in government schools. For Grades 6 to 11, there are 11,274 reported vacancies in the Sinhala medium and 6,121 in the Tamil medium.
In the Western Province alone, government schools indicate shortages of 1,310 Sinhala medium and 302 Tamil medium teachers for Grades 1 to 5. For Grades 6 to 11, the vacancies are 1,325 for Sinhala medium teachers and 397 for Tamil medium teachers. Overall, there are 40,000 teacher vacancies nationwide.
The Public Service Commission has recommended that filling vacancies in the Ministry of Education should be conducted through an examination-based process. Currently, there is an active court case concerning the recruitment of graduates into the teaching profession. Considering all these factors, efforts are being made to recruit graduates to fill the current teacher vacancies.
Nevertheless, the Prime Minister stressed that the government aims to fill at least a portion of the necessary vacancies by year’s end.
Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya announced a recruitment plan to address the shortage of 40,000 teachers nationwide by year’s end. She highlighted specific vacancies: 4,240 in Sinhala and 2,827 in Tamil mediums for Grades 1-5, and 11,274 in Sinhala and 6,121 in Tamil for Grades 6-11. In the Western Province, there are 1,310 Sinhala and 302 Tamil shortages for Grades 1-5, and 1,325 Sinhala and 397 Tamil for Grades 6-11. Recruitment will be exam-based, following a Public Service Commission recommendation, despite ongoing legal issues. The government aims to fulfill some vacancies this year.
