The Ministry of Education said there are 4600 teaching vacancies in 1080 schools in the Sabaragamuwa province.

Education Secretary for the Sabaragamuwa Province Chamara Bamunuarachchi said that relevant measures are being taken to fill these vacancies.

He said under the initial phase, vacancies in 425 schools will be filled.

877 teachers for Ordinary Level subjects and 159 teachers for Advanced Level subjects will be appointed accordingly.

(newsfirst.lk)

(Except for the headline, this story, originally published by newsfirst.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

The number of Sri Lankan retired military personnel who have lost their lives in the Russia-Ukraine war has climbed to 14, according to Defense sources.

The Defense authorities have disclosed that 134 complaints have been lodged concerning the suspected human trafficking of the country’s retired military personnel into the conflict zone.

These complaints, spanning from the 9th of May to 10 pm last night, underscore the urgency of addressing the illegal trafficking activities surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war.

The Criminal Investigation Department is conducting further investigations into this smuggling ring.

The Ministry of Defense introduced a hotline to report any information regarding this illegal human trafficking racket. The hotline is 0112 441 146

The number of vacancies in the superior courts has risen to seven, hampering their functions.

There are two vacancies in the Supreme Court and five in the Court of Appeal. All the vacancies have been created by retirement of judges.

Filling the vacancies has become problematic owing to the deadlock between President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Constitutional Council (CC) over the proposed appointment of the President of the Court of Appeal Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne to the Supreme Court. The CC has so far rejected the recommendation made by President Wickremesinghe to appoint Justice Karunaratne to the Supreme Court.

The shortage of judges is felt most in the Court of Appeal. Owing to its five vacancies, two of the court’s benches do not function, raising concerns over a backlog of cases.

High Court Judges and Deputy Solicitors General at the Attorney General’s Department are qualified to be appointed to the superior courts.

The two positions in the Supreme Court fell vacant with the retirement of Justice Buwaneka Aluwihare in January and Priyantha Jayawardena in February. In the Court of Appeal, Justices Prasanna Silva, Lakshman Keerthisinghe, Neil Iddawala, Khema Swarnadhipathi and D.M. Samarakoon have retired. Justice Iddawala had retired to take up the post of Chairman of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption. The others had retired after reaching retirement age.

Another vacancy is due to be created in the Court of Appeal in October this year with the retirement of Justice Vikum Kaluarachchi.

(sundaytimes.lk)

(Except for the headline, this story, originally published by sundaytimes.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)