News
Budget fails to redress retired teachers’ and principals’ grievances, protests to continue
View(s):By Dilushi Wijesinghe
Despite weeks of protests and appeals by retired teachers and principals to their long-standing salary and pension grievances, they failed to get a response from the Budget.
To gain attention to the issue, they held a protest outside Parliament on Friday ahead of the Budget proposal being read.
The National Organisation of Retired Teachers and Principals (NORPT) had urged the government to rectify pension discrepancies by first addressing the salary anomalies affecting teachers and principals, which have remained unresolved since the 1997 B.C. Perera Salary Commission.
NORPT members, some in their seventies and eighties, had held protests in various parts of the country including Colombo over the past few weeks. They urged the government that funds be allocated in the 2026 Budget to implement the 20 percent salary increase recommended by the Subodhani Committee in 2022 appointed by the then Education Minister.
The protest in front of Parliament on Friday. Pix by Akila Jayawardena
The committee found that teachers and principals had been excluded from the 60 percent pay increase granted to other public servants in 1997 and recommended corrective action. However, the recommendation was only partially implemented, and the new Budget announcement makes no reference to the 20 percent adjustment demanded by the union.
During the Budget President Anura Kumara Dissanayake had only proposed to set up a Commission to look into their demands.
He said: “It is our responsibility to manage salary and pension policies in a sustainable manner. Considering the salary anomalies that have arisen over the years, and the challenges to public financial management, a Salaries and Pensions Commission is being established to provide solutions to the problems of public employees and pensioners regarding salaries and allowances.”
Following the Budget speech, NORPT members expressed disappointment that the Budget did not offer a concrete solution to their demands. They said they were dissatisfied that the President had only proposed the appointment of a new commission instead of implementing the previous proposals.
The organisation said the President had failed to give a time frame to resolve the issue,.
The unions say they will continue protests and seek support from opposition parties to press for immediate redress.
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