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Acting principals’ permanency push blocked by Govt. barriers
View(s):The demand by teachers serving as acting principals that they be given permanent appointments as principals has been turned down by the government, citing administrative hurdles.
The Education Ministry has firmly said the structural requirements outlined in service minutes cannot be altered. However, it added that a salary increment may be provided to teachers covering principal duties until a new appointment is made, in recognition of their additional responsibilities.
Deputy Education and Higher Education Minister Dr Madhura Senevirathne told the Sunday Times that the service minutes — the regulations — set a strict age limit for the post of principal. Teachers serving as acting principals who are over the age limit cannot be appointed without amending the minutes. “This is unlikely,” he said, adding, “There is no official acting principal service.”
The deputy minister also noted that the ministry appreciates these teachers for taking on additional administrative duties until permanent principals are appointed.
Mr Senevirathne explained that, in addition to the service minutes, the April 30-dated Public Administrative Circular 11/2026 is another hurdle to their appointments. The new circular outlines the procedure for granting permanent appointments to public sector employees recruited on a temporary, casual (daily wage), substitute, contract, or relief basis.
According to the deputy minister, the core issue is a sense of lost status. When permanent principals are eventually named, acting principals must return to their teaching responsibilities after holding higher administrative authority.
All Ceylon Performing Principals Union President A. Letchumanam said that forcing these experienced teachers back into teacher roles results in significant salary losses, missed increments, and a loss of social standing within their communities.
The union has been at the forefront of a campaign to secure permanent positions for acting principals. It also calls for the ministry to allow these acting principals to sit the Sri Lanka Principal Service Grade III examination, even if they are over the 50-year age limit set out in the regulations.
Mr Letchumanam added that many acting principals have served for 10 to 15 years and are now over 50 (some up to 55), meaning they are legally barred from becoming permanent despite their extensive experience.
He emphasised that acting principals are often the ones managing schools in extremely difficult and remote regions such as the North, East, and South, where permanent grade-holding principals refuse to go.
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