Oct 25, Colombo: Trade unions in Sri Lanka have threatened to bring the country's school education system to a standstill if the demands put forward by the teachers and principals are not met.

The Ceylon Teacher Services Union (CTSU) said that a trade union action by teachers and principals would result in the closing down of all 9,662 state schools in the country.

CTSU General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe said that teachers and principals have commenced a struggle to win six demands including a solution to their long standing salary anomalies.

He noted that the teachers were concerned over the lack of supplementary wages, the militarization of state schools, the increasing political interference within the local education system, the inability of the government to allocate 6 percent of the GDP for education sector and the privatization of the free education system of Sri Lanka.

According to Jayasinghe, the demand for supplementary wages was made to the Cabinet of Ministers in December 2008 and that it was taken up again on October 18 this year. The Salaries and Cadre Commission had reportedly said they have allocated Rs. 3 billion in 2008 to provide supplementary wages to teachers.

Jayasinghe charged that the trade union actions would continue until teachers and principals won their demands.