School Coaches face financial crisis due to Covid19 Pandemic
Coaches attached to schools for various sports have been suffering from little or no income during these past two months, and now it’s come to a point where they find it difficult to meet their day-to-day expenses in the present situation.
Most of these school coaches are private coaches who have been hired by schools on contract basis. Following the Covid-19 lockdown and imposition of curfew in March, they found themselves in deep financial trouble as they did not receive even their March salary from most schools.
Under the circumstances, the Sri Lanka Sports Coaches Rights Protection Association (SLSCRP) wrote to Minister of Education and Sports Dullas Alahapperuma on 18 April making two requests.
One request was for the Minister to intervene on their behalf and ensure they got paid their full salary (or half) for the months of March and April.
The other was to be included in the list of benefactors who will receive the proposed Interest Subsidy Loan Scheme enacted by the Government.
In response, the Sports Ministry has stated the Government will make the Rs 5,000 payment to all coaches who come under Sports Associations registered with the Sports Ministry.
The Education Ministry has also written to all Education Directors, Secretaries, Division Education Directors and Principals on 30 April, directing them to pay a maximum of 25% of the monthly salary for coaches who are paid their salaries from the School Development Society Fund or from Past Pupils Association Fund.
The letter has also directed them to ensure that all such coaches get a minimum of Rs 5000 if 25% of their salary is less than that from March until the present situation is resolved.
However, most coaches find it difficult to maintain themselves with an income of Rs 5000, and some of them are yet to receive the said amount and have now been without a salary for two months.
Also, as things stand at present, school practices will not resume in the short term, and hence, they will be without their regular salary for three months in a row, which most of them said is unbearable.
