Important Links for Teachers
The official pages a teacher actually needs, in one place. Every link here was checked before publication and opens on a government site.
About these links
Every link on this page was tested and returned a working page before publication. Government sites do reorganise, so if one fails please tell us through the contact page and we will correct it.
RCF English is not a government body. These are signposts to official sources. For anything affecting your appointment, salary or service record, the official document and your zonal or provincial office are what count.
Teacher service, transfers and promotions
| What you need | Official page |
|---|---|
| Promotions - grade promotions, the conditions and the procedure | Promotions |
| Transfers - annual transfer schemes, applications and appeals | Transfer circulars - the Ministry's transfers branch page was still an unedited template when last checked, so search the circular index instead. See our document register. |
| Sri Lanka Teacher Service - the service you are appointed to, its grades and regulations | Sri Lanka Teacher Service |
| Sri Lanka Teacher Educators' Service - for those in teacher training roles | Teacher Educators' Service |
| Sri Lanka Principals' Service - for principals and those seeking appointment | Principals' Service |
| Service Minute - the regulation creating the teachers' service, its grades and promotion conditions | Sri Lanka Teacher Service Minute |
| Efficiency Bar examinations - the three examinations and their ten modules | Efficiency Bar Examination |
| Circulars - the rules behind all of the above | Ministry circulars index - and see our guide |
| Establishments Code - the master public service reference, Volumes I and II | Establishments Code |
| Public administration circulars - salaries, pensions, leave and allowances across the public service | Circulars · Ministry of Public Administration |
The two documents that govern your service
| Document | What it governs | Where it is |
|---|---|---|
| The Establishments Code | The master reference for the whole public service: appointments, salaries, increments, leave, discipline, transfers and pensions. Volume I covers Chapters I to XXXIII and Chapter XXXVI; Volume II covers Chapters XLVII and XLVIII. It applies to you as a public officer, not specifically as a teacher. | Establishments Code - Ministry of Public Administration |
| The Sri Lanka Teachers' Service Minute | The regulation that creates the teachers' service itself: its grades, the qualifications for entry to each, the conditions for promotion between them, and the efficiency bars. This is the document to read before any promotion question. | Service Minute - Ministry of Education |
Which version of the Service Minute applies
The Ministry publishes several versions on its Teacher Service pages, and picking the wrong one is an easy mistake to make.
Gazette of Sri Lanka, October 2014 - the gazette carrying the Service Minute. Reporting elsewhere identifies the current Minute as Gazette No. 1885/38 of 23.10.2014, and this is the gazette document the Ministry publishes.
Sri Lanka Teachers' Service Minute 2011 - the earlier version, still published for reference.
Draft Service Minute - a draft. A draft is not in force. Do not rely on it for anything.
The Minute is also amended by gazette from time to time, so check the Teacher Service page for anything more recent before acting on any of these.
Promotion: the route, and what gates it
Promotion in the Sri Lanka Teachers' Service runs through grades, and movement between them is gated by Efficiency Bar examinations together with the qualifications set out in the Service Minute and in gazettes.
- The Service Minute sets the grades and the conditions for promotion between them. Start there.
- Gazettes set the detailed qualifications. The Ministry publishes, for example, the qualifications for promotion from Grade III to Grade II, by gazette.
- Efficiency Bar examinations gate salary progression. There are three, and passing them is a condition, not an optional extra - see the modules below.
- Circulars announce each round: application dates, procedure and appeals. Those are on the circulars index, and our guide to circulars explains how to find the current one.
- Your own service record is held by your zonal or provincial office. The documents tell you the rule; only that office can tell you where you stand against it.
The Efficiency Bar modules, all ten
| Examination | Modules |
|---|---|
| First Efficiency Bar - four modules | National Teacher Competency Framework and Teacher Professionalism · Teaching Methodology · Digital Technology in Education · Educational Law |
| Second Efficiency Bar - three modules | Leadership Development and Educational Management · Preparing an effective learning activity plan · Classroom Management and Inclusive Education |
| Third Efficiency Bar - three modules | Physical and mental well-being, co-curricular, career guidance and counselling · Twenty-First Century School · Action Research |
| All modules and the official page | Efficiency Bar Examination for officers of the Sri Lanka Teachers' Service |
Promotions: the three things teachers most often miss
The efficiency bar is a gate, not a formality. Salary progression stops at an efficiency bar until it is passed. Check which bar applies to your grade and when you are due to sit it - the requirements are set by circular and do change.
Transfer and promotion run on separate calendars. A transfer application does not advance a promotion, and being transferred does not reset your seniority. They are governed by different circulars.
Closing dates are strict and are published only once. Annual transfer circulars appear the year before they take effect, so the circular you need in 2026 was probably issued in 2025. Check the index at the start of each year rather than waiting for word to reach your school.
Regional English Support Centres - the ones built for you
There are 30 Regional English Support Centres (RESCs) across the island, and they exist specifically to support English teachers. They are coordinated by the Department of English at the National Institute of Education, which states its role as fostering the centres and monitoring and evaluating them while running professional development programmes for RESC staff.
This is the single most useful thing on this page for an English teacher, and the one most often not known about. An RESC is where subject-specific in-service training, materials and mentoring actually happen - as opposed to general teacher training, which is organised differently.
RESCs do not each have a public website. The centres are attached to zones and provinces, so the way to reach the one nearest you is through your zonal education office or the NIE Department of English. There is no national directory of them online that we have been able to verify, and we would rather say so than send you to a list that may be out of date.
Training, modules and seminars
| What you need | Official page |
|---|---|
| NIE Department of English - the department that oversees the 30 Regional English Support Centres and runs professional development for English teaching | Department of English, NIE |
| National Institute of Education - syllabuses, teachers' guides, curriculum and teacher training | nie.ac.lk |
| NIE publications and guides - the site that hosts the teachers' guide documents themselves | nie.lk |
| NIE faculties and departments - who does what, and whom to approach | Faculty |
| Teachers' guides for English - already catalogued here with direct links, Grade 6 to Advanced Level | Teacher downloads |
| Educational Publications Department - the pupils' books your class is working from, free to download | edupub.gov.lk |
| Study packs - term packs and self-learning material, Grade 3 to Grade 11 | Study packs |
| Ministry of Education - policy, announcements and the departments behind all of it | moe.gov.lk |
| Government services portal - other departments and services | gov.lk |
Two NIE addresses, and which to use
The NIE is reachable at both nie.ac.lk and nie.lk, and both work. They are not identical.
nie.ac.lk carries the institutional site - departments, faculties, and the Department of English that oversees the RESCs. Use it for finding people and programmes.
nie.lk is where the teachers' guide documents themselves are hosted; the direct guide links in our teacher downloads point there.
If a link on one fails, try the other before assuming the document has gone.
How in-service training and seminars are announced
Most subject seminars, in-service advisor sessions and training modules for English teachers are organised at zonal and provincial level, not nationally, and are announced through your zonal education office or your Regional English Support Centre rather than on a public website. There is no single national calendar of them.
The practical consequence: the NIE is where the material lives - syllabuses, teachers' guides and training modules - while the dates come from your zone or your RESC. If you are not hearing about sessions, the zonal English in-service advisor and the nearest RESC are the two people to ask.
RCF English also runs its own training. The Literature Orientation course for new teachers is a one-month online course, and is separate from anything the Ministry or NIE provides.
Examinations, for teachers preparing candidates
| What you need | Official page |
|---|---|
| Department of Examinations - the authority for O/L, A/L and Grade 5 Scholarship | doenets.lk |
| Examination timetables | Timetables |
| Examination calendar - the year's examinations at a glance | Calendar |
| School examinations | School examinations |
| Applications - for candidates, including private candidates | Applications |
| Official past papers | Past papers - and our past paper library |
Related pages
Government circulars
How circulars work and where to find the current one.
Examination links for students
Timetables, results and applications.
Study packs
Downloadable term packs, Grade 3 to 11.
Teacher Resources
Lesson planning and classroom support.