School Development Officers Reject Competitive Exam Requirement

COLOMBO (News 1st); A group of School Development Officers has been staging a continuous protest near the Presidential Secretariat for five days, demanding that they be absorbed into the teaching service without having to sit for a competitive examination.

They are carrying out this demonstration with the support of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.

What exactly is the issue faced by these School Development Officers?

The School Development Officer service was introduced on August 1, 2011, to provide employment opportunities to university graduates.

The legal framework for the service was formalized through an extraordinary gazette notification issued on February 14, 2012.

This cadre is entrusted with formulating, implementing, and supervising school development activities.

What is the problem?

From 2011 onward, graduates have been recruited from time to time into the School Development Officer service.

A large group was recruited again in 2022, under former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s graduate employment scheme.

According to available data, more than 15,800 graduates are currently working within the School Development Officer service.

Although these appointments were issued specifically for school development duties, many of these officers have subsequently been assigned to teaching roles in schools.

Over the years, they have engaged in several trade union struggles, demanding absorption into the teaching service based on this background.

What is happening now?

A fundamental rights petition was filed before the Supreme Court regarding this issue.

The matter was resolved with an agreement to provide these officers an opportunity to join the teaching service through a competitive examination.

There was also consensus to amend the age limit to facilitate this.

However, their recruitment will only take place through such an examination, and the government has already announced that the exam date will be published soon.

Despite this, a group of School Development Officers began a protest near the Presidential Secretariat five days ago, demanding direct recruitment into the teaching service without any examination.

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya has extended full support to this demonstration.

In recent days, SJB parliamentarians and party members have repeatedly visited the protest site to provide assistance.

Today as well, the Deputy Legal Secretary of the SJB stated that this group must be absorbed into the teaching service without requiring them to sit for an exam.