Teachers’ trade unions are protesting against what they describe as a political witch-hunt against some of their members who did not attend a meeting chaired by Prime Minister and Minister of Education Dr. Harini Amarasuriya in Tangalle on Sunday, 15 March, 2026. Many seats in the Tangalle Municipal Council auditorium, where the meeting was held, were left empty by no-shows. The trade unions have taken exception to a letter sent by the Tangalle Zonal Education Office to the school principals in the area, asking them to explain why their staff members did not attend the aforesaid meeting. Their consternation is understandable. When the show cause letter, dated 24 March 2026, became public and got bad press, some trade unionists speculated that the government politicians might try to dissociate themselves from it. There is reason to believe that the letter at issue would not have been issued if the absence of teachers had not become a matter of concern to the government, and therefore it is unlikely that the Zonal Education Director who called for explanation from the school principals has done so unbeknownst to her superiors in the Education Ministry.
Teachers or other state workers should be free to decide whether to attend meetings, etc., held outside their regular working hours, especially during weekends, and they must not be penalised for skipping such events. In a way, the above-mentioned show cause letter can be considered a kind of comeuppance for the state-sector teachers who, together with their trade union leaders, went out of their way to bring the JVP/NPP to power. So did other state employees and their trade unions, as evident from the postal vote results in 2024. Now, it is mandatory for them to attend even unofficial meetings chaired by the ruling party politicians!
Why should government politicians travel all the way from Colombo to faraway places to chair meetings while the country is facing a crippling energy crisis, which has prompted the ruling party politicians to urge the public to reduce fuel consumption. Shouldn’t they practise what they preach?
VIP motorcades consist of dozens of vehicles, some which operate undercover, blending into traffic at present as the current leaders came to power, promising to disband VIP security divisions and do away with huge security contingents. Whenever they travel, one can see lead cars, pilot vehicles, decoy cars and many other vehicles carrying counter-assault teams. They ought to travel less and help save state funds and precious fuel these days. They must follow the energy-saving guidelines issued by the Commissioner General of Essential Services to the state sector. Almost all the meetings attended by the government leaders can be held online. State officials also have to travel long distances in official vehicles to attend the events ‘graced’ by politicians in power. Nothing usually comes of such meetings, which only help politicians wax eloquent and say very little in many words.
In Pakistan, fuel allocation for the state sector has been halved as an energy crisis management measure; 60% of the state-owned vehicles have been taken off the roads, and, most of all, fuel quotas for ministers have been abolished. Sri Lanka must adopt such austerity measures, and ensure that the politicians share in the hardships faced by the public. After all, the present-day leaders came to power, promising to use public transport. This is the best time for them to make good on their election promises, and travel with the ordinary people in crowded buses and trains. They claim to be very popular, and a research organisation would have the public believe that the approval rating of the incumbent government has increased to a whopping 65%. So, there is no reason why the ruling party politicians should hesitate to travel with hapless commuters.
About two months ago, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake went out for a constitutional with only a single security officer, in Jaffna, and the government released a video of his famous walk to gain political mileage. If the former war zone is safe for the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief to move about without heavy security, why can’t other government politicians travel in buses and trains or cycle to work? Above all, they insist in Parliament and elsewhere that the law-abiding citizens do not have to worry about frequent shooting incidents, which they describe as turf wars among drug dealers. They need not worry about their safety at all, for they say they have no underworld links. Shouldn’t they set an example to the public at least during the current fuel crisis by cancelling meetings and using public transport?
