| Sri Lanka’s chief justice on Tuesday suggested corporal punishment for teachers who called in sick this week in the midst of a wage dispute, court officials said Wednesday. Supreme Court Chief Sarath Silva said that if any of the teachers came before, the punishment would be sharp and swift. “Teachers taking leave on the pretext of being sick should be given six lashes,” he said at the opening of a new court house here Tuesday. “If any of these teachers come before me, I know what to do. I will give them six cuts.” Teachers say there are several salary anomalies that must be corrected by the government and they staged the strike in a bid to make Colombo act quicker. Unions said the action was a success, but schools reported normal attendance. There are some 210,000 teachers in state-run schools and their average daily absenteeism is reportedly around 20 percent. |