JOSEPH STALIN AND MAHINDA JAYASINGHE
REPORTING TO WORK ON THE 25th,
A MASTERFUL MANOEUVRE BY THE TWO VETERAN LEADERS OF THE TEACHERS
The federated agitations of allied but different, trade unions in the educational sphere, gathered momentum daily since their commencement, and the long marches on the roads by teachers, in all parts of the country, were unprecedented. In the midst of the on-going pandemic, exposing themselves to the dangers of infection, it focused sharply that the problem of a revision of salaries with the correction of anomalies had festered for long years, 24 long years, and had galvanized separate unions to struggle together for a common goal.
While the government was cautious at first, in handling the issue, and did not use their usual brute force of the police nor the political lumpen fringe to harass the demonstrating teachers physically, the attitude of the authorities changed later and became aggressive, forcing a crisis.
Teachers traditionally occupy a revered place in our society and it is accepted that their service is sacred and valued. Teaching is not considered as a mere wage-earning profession but an honoured vocation, because they play a vital role in moulding the character of young children which eventually determine the ethical and cultural level of the society.
Teacher Unions who have been continuously misled and deceived in the past by consecutive governments with promises of “solutions in the near future”, achieved a technical victory, this time, when the Secretary to the Ministry of Education had given the Unions, a written document that acceded to the demands of the Union, although with a proviso that the implementation of the salary revision will be in several stages. Thus, the main demand, of the Unions stands resolved, though the mode of implementation is in dispute. The government proposes, the implementation to commence with the budgetary allocations for the 1st stage, in November 2021.
With this offer laid on the table, the government commenced the usual pressure campaign against the Unions, mudslinging against the leaders and issuing vociferous threats. Lesser individuals accused the leaders of intransigence and political motivation.
Tissakuttiarachchi in a verbal frenzy blurted out an uncivilized barbaric threat, that Joseph Stalin would be personally impaled by him.
But, what was more menacing was the “public opinion” being fashioned, assiduously and vigorously by the reactionary print and electronic media, a powerful force, that could mislead and deceive an entire nation, by their fabricated stories and fake news reporting, It posed a severe threat to the continuation of the collective agitation to the next level of strike action. Thus, strike action, posed a risk of a real-life clash with not only known forces, but even unknown forces.
This dilemma called for judicious decision making on the part of the leaders.
The federated leaderships sat and pondered the options and alternatives but failed to reach a consensus. The Principals Union of Ven. Ulapane Sumangala, rejected the option proposed by the Teachers Unions and decided that, they will go into fully fledged strike st action from 21 . However, this has been now amended.
The two leaders of the Teacher’s Union proposed a deft, side-stepping manoeuvre to obviate the danger of a possible open clash. They proposed that they would not report for work on the 21st as requested by the government, and will therefore resort to strike action on 21st and 22nd October, a litmus test, to assess the unity of their membership, and would in any event, report for duty on the 25th for the purpose of teaching only. This proposal was endorsed by Teachers Unions
The two leaders of the Teachers Unions have to be congratulated on their judicious option to continue the struggle, in a different form.
What the Teachers Unions will do from 25 October is not strike, but work to rule, which would be equally potent and effective collective action to pressurize the authorities
This “work to rule” will also open the eyes of the public to the invaluable work the teachers perform, in the fields of extra – curricular activities of a school, in moulding the character of their children and honing the ethical and cultural traits of young children, which in the final analysis, determines the ethical and cultural level of a society.
Book learning will improve literacy, and knowledge in specific subjects, but the flowering of a personality will happen only, with interaction with peers and elders, in the extra curricular fields of sports,
music and the arts, which are the true humanizing activities that embellish a personality.
Teachers, have been in the forefront of these humanizing projects and prevented generations of students from later behaving like the barbarian Tissakuttiarachchi and such political bums and the teachers have not being paid a red cent, extra by the state for this invaluable role.
Would you like your honoured teachers to come to school in beggarly attire and their families to be half-starved, all the time?
While the rest of the society, specially the wage earning classes have used their various collective bargaining abilities to advance their living standards, most unfortunately, teachers have remained poor, due to their disunity upto now.
The Nation should unite, to assist the teachers to win a living wage, so that they and their families could live with respect and honour that they richly deserve.
VICTORY TO THE TEACHERS STRUGGLE!
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