Sri Lanka's Education Minister says teachers cannot produce successful students by resorting to trade union action

Sri Lanka's Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena says that teachers resorting to trade union action to win demands will not help to produce successful students.

He also said that given the large population of female teachers in the county, each teacher has to be given maternity leave close to a year when they have children.

He explained that when a teacher has her first baby, she takes the maternity leave, half paid leave, and no pay leave that amounts to one year.

Addressing a function in Matara, Gunawardena noted that having to give female teachers one year leave for their first child birth was unfair to the students.

The minister also said that amidst all these issues, trying to resort to trade union action to win demands would not be fair on the part of the students.