Prime Minister Dr Harini Amarasuriya says the government expects to recruit 23,000 teachers this year, in what she described as the largest teacher recruitment drive in the country’s history, NewsFirst reported.
She made the announcement at the foundation stone-laying ceremony for a new three-storey classroom building at Habarana Maha Vidyalaya.
What she said
The Prime Minister, who also holds the education portfolio, said the government recognises the importance of education and is giving the sector attention through increased investment, policymaking and efforts to strengthen both human and physical resources.
Students should receive equal consideration whether they attend national or provincial schools, she said, since they follow the same curriculum and sit the same examinations.
New subjects including entrepreneurship and financial literacy have been introduced to help students understand and address the country’s economic and social challenges. Education should go beyond preparing students to excel in examinations, she added, and should also nurture citizens who help others, protect the environment and take part in the democratic process.
The figure is not new
The 23,000 target has been on the public record for months. In June, the Department of Management Services approved the recruitment of B.Ed graduates into the Sri Lanka Teacher Service, clearing the way for more than 31,000 appointments by the end of 2026 — 23,006 of them drawn from competitive examination results, with a further 6,500 diploma holders due in December.
So the Prime Minister’s 23,000 appears to be the competitive-examination component rather than the full planned intake. In September, Public Administration Minister Chandana Abeyratne put the teacher figure at around 30,000 within a wider state-service drive of more than 120,000 recruits — closer to the combined total.
The examination tally itself comes from the 163,433 graduates who sat the islandwide recruitment paper in May, the first such exam in more than three years after legal challenges were resolved.
Not reported
NewsFirst does not say how many of the 23,000 appointments have actually been issued, or whether the end-of-year deadline set in June still holds. It gives no updated figure for the teacher shortage, which stood at about 44,000 in June, and does not say what the Habarana classroom building will cost or when it is due to be completed.
This report rests on a single verified newsroom. No other verified outlet has filed on the Habarana event.
Source: NewsFirst.
