Sri Lanka, May 21 -- Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that there is currently a shortage of 40,000 teachers across the country, and that the government expects to recruit a certain number of the required personnel by the end of this year.

The Prime Minister made these remarks in Parliament today (21), while responding to a question raised by Member of the Opposition Mujibur Rahuman, according to the Prime Minister's Media Division.

The Prime Minister further stated:

"There are currently 4,240 teacher vacancies in the Sinhala medium and 2,827 in the Tamil medium for Grades 1 to 5 in government schools. The number of vacancies for Grades 6 to 11 is 11,274 in the Sinhala medium and 6,121 in the Tamil medium.

In the Western Pr...