Graduate protest over unemployment

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Over one hundred unemployed graduates of Vavuniya district staged a token fast from 9 am to 4 p.m. yesterday in the premises of Vavuniya Kachcheri, in support of those unemployed graduates fasting in Trincomalee.

The graduates in Trincomalee began their fast on the 3rd of July when the Provincial Public Service Commission failed to meet an undertaking to employ 1,000 graduates as teachers by the 1st of June. The graduates at Vavuniya demanded that those who had faced the selection interview for the 1,000 vacancies should now be appointed to their posts.

A statement issued by the Union for Unemployed Graduates in Vavuniya said that employment opportunities for graduates had been neglected since 1994, and as a result those who had graduated during the period of 1994 and 1998 are unemployed.

The statement pointed out that those who graduated from the other universities in the other provinces had been given employment opportunities.

The Union for Unemployed Graduates put forward three demands:

1. All unemployed graduates who had faced interviews and are eligible should be given permanent teaching appointments.

2. The Ministry of Education and Higher Education should issue letters before July 15 to unemployed graduates confirming their appointment to teaching posts.

3. All graduates in the district should be given appointment letters before July 31.

If these demands are not met our protests will be expanded, the statement said.

Students of the Vavuniya campus also took part in the fast today.

Meanwhile, Secretary to the North-East Provincial Councils Education Ministry said yesterday that 1000 unemployed graduates in Vavuniya district will be given teaching posts before July 15.