Teacher unions are claiming that under-qualified teachers have been appointed by the Examinations Department to mark Advanced-Level answer scripts.
According to the Ceylon Teacher Services Union general secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe, teachers who did not qualify as exam paper markers were marking papers, and this could have a negative impact on the students and their academic careers.
“The Examinations Department does not have a pool of teachers for paper marking. What they have is an outdated list of markers, and the Examinations Commissioner is using this list,” he said. “We have information that teachers who have not completed the qualifying requirements are marking papers this year, and that they are not following proper marking procedures.”
According to Mr. Jayasinghe, there have been instances of former school management assistants and education officers being appointed as school teachers, and that these unqualified persons were now marking A/Level papers. He added that many teachers who possessed bachelor degrees, but did not qualify to mark papers, had been recruited to mark A/level papers.
“A teacher should have at least three years of teaching experience in the relevant subject if he or she is to mark papers, and the teacher should have the school principal’s approval. At the Panvila Maha Vidyalaya, for example, a recently appointed teacher who was a former management assistant is marking A-Level economics answer scripts.
“Then there was a case of a teacher with just one year of exam paper-marking experience being made an additional chief examiner. You must have several years’ experience to be given this kind of responsibility,” Mr. Jayasinghe said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Education Susil Premajayantha dismissed allegations of under-qualified staff, saying all those recruited were qualified for the job.
“The allegation is totally false,” he said. “The centres come under the purview of university professors and other senior education officers. They would never allow such things to happen,” he said.
The minister added that schools would re-open as scheduled, despite the delay in marking A/L papers.
“The marking of A/Level papers will take another two weeks, but we have made the necessary arrangements so schools can re-open as planned. The paper marking is being done in state schools, and these schools have sufficient space to accommodate staff engaged in paper marking, so the schools can operate as usual. This was done last year too, so there won’t be a problem,” he said.
Referring to teacher salaries, the minister said the issue of salary anomalies would be resolved soon. He said three leading teacher unions had given positive feedback during the latest round of discussions.
Minister Premajayantha said the Salaries and Cadre Commission and the secretary to the Ministry of Education were in agreement that teacher services should be treated as distinct from public services.
“They recognise that teachers have a unique role, and that teacher services should be treated as separate. They will be briefing the president. They are expected to come up with a proposal soon,” he said. | 
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