Belief In The Worth Of Teachers At S. Thomas’ Colleges
By Panini Edirisinhe –March 17, 2016
Panini Edirisinhe
There has been much recent discussion of the role of Private Schools and their place in the social fabric of Sri Lanka. The touching story of the Kuliyapitiya Boy, Rahul, clearly illustrated the effectiveness with which a private Anglican school was able to resolve an issue that the country was agonising over.
These Anglican schools are among the best in the country, yet I see them beset with many a vexed question in their running. The greatest anxiety appears to be regarding the staffing of these schools. The school at Mt Lavinia has the fewest such problems and I see this as being because there is a neat and clear system of administration. The OBA is active and has two members on the fifteen member Board of Governors, while the Staff elect one member. How these elections are to take place is clearly laid out here.
These are rules that can be changed by the Board itself, but it is good that they are rarely tampered with, although my intention is to draw attention to some sections which need, urgently, to be changed.
The very special role that these schools used to play is reflected in this Ordinance which can be changed only by An Act of Parliament, and amending it is hardly ever considered.
In early January 2016, the Staff of the College at Mt Lavinia unanimously elected Mr Channa Asela de Silva, as their Representative on the Board, with no interference from the Administration. There often is a contest for this election and only an Anglican who is not an employee can be elected. This year, nobody ran against Channa who had been an exemplary teacher of Mathematics and had retired early to continue his teaching privately.
Long before the Annual General Meeting of the OBA on Friday, the 13th of February, all members of the OBA received profiles of the six proposed and seconded candidates. The conduct of the elections with printed ballot papers, ballot boxes etc. could hardly have been improved upon.
