* Rs 3,000 allowance enough to cover transport costs, breakfast
International Women’s Day tomorrow

While politicians and NGOs preached on women’s rights regularly and hold extravagant functions to mark the annual International Women’s Day on March 8 (tomorrow), a group of teachers, mostly women who had been employed as teacher assistants by the Western Provincial Council to educate differently abled children, had been paid a mere Rs 3,000 monthly allowance.

They accused successive governments of turning a blind eye to their grievances and sending them from pillar to post for over a decade. Sky rocketing cost-of-living fuelled by sharp increase in fuel, gas and the forthcoming electricity hike had made the Rs. 3,000 allowance irrelevant, the sources said.

Despite repeated pledges by successive governments, no tangible action had been taken to at least provide them with a reasonable allowance. They said ministries and NGOs, which focus on the differently abled, too, should take up this issue.

The Island recently received a set of documents which revealed the pathetic case of a young woman who had been teaching mentally retarded children for over 12 years for a paltry Rs 3,000 allowance. The sources said it wasn’t an isolated case. In fact, the entire teaching staff  looking after the mentally retarded children in the Western Province had been denied a realistic allowance. The sources asserted that their allowance would be perhaps the lowest paid to any category of workers. Even a municipality labourer would be on a better payment scheme, the sources said.

Although the Education Ministry had assured them permanent appointments, after their plight was brought to the notice of President Mahinda Rajapaksa in early March last year, no tangible action had been taken to keep that promise, the sources said.

The affected teacher assistants are attached to Colombo, Piliyandala, Homagama and Jayawardenepura.

The sources said that the Education Ministry had rejected the possibility of accommodating them on a permanent cadre on the basis of the Teachers’ Service Minute. The sources said that there was absolutely no dispute with the ministry. If they couldn’t absorb them onto the permanent cadre, they could at least provide them with a realistic allowance. The sources said there was no point in fighting over categorization of the teacher assistants. The urgent need was to increase their allowance without further delay, the sources said.

The sources said their plight had been also brought to the notice of Reginald Cooray, Dallas Alahapperuma, Wimal Weerawansa, Lakshman Nipunaarachchi, G. L. Peiris, Jeevan Kumaratunga and Susil Premjayanth, but the issue hadn’t been resolved, the sources said. Although Susil Premjayanth, Reginald Cooray and G. L. Peiris had moved up the political ladder, the teacher assistants whose problem they promised to resolve remained an uncared lot, the sources said.

The sources said they were still hoping for justice 11 years after they were promised permanent employment by the Western Provincial Council.