Teacher unionists who rejected the National Salaries and Cadres Commission report on teachers’ salary anomalies, now demand that the Education Ministry take immediate action or face trade union action.

The unionists yesterday wrote to Education Minister Susil Premjayanth, accusing him of attempting to mislead teachers.

The report by the National Salaries and Cadre Commission had been rejected simply because it did not fulfil the demands of teachers, General Secretary, Ceylon Teachers Service Union, Mahinda Jayasinghe told The Island.

"The Commission states in the report that the anomalies were high, but increments suggested in the report were lower than expected and suggested by the Education Ministry in an earlier report to the Commission on the same issue," he said.

According to Education Minister, the teachers will receive an average pay hike of Rs. 3,000 in near future. However, he has said there are no specific plans.

"We know the Minister is just bandying about figures. We challenge him to release a circular to the effect if the government is serious in increasing the salaries of teachers," Jayasinghe said.

Addressing a function held at St. John’s College in Nugegoda, Education Minister Susil Premjayanth last week said that teachers will receive an average pay hike of Rs. 3000, which will come into effect as a result of Salary Commission recommendations. He said that this amount was just an average and it would be as high as 3,800 rupees for senior grades.(SI)