A “hard-working” maths teacher with “excellent” subject knowledge is at risk of being deported from the country because she is stuck in a bureaucratic “Catch 22 situation”, her supporters have claimed.

Sri Lankan Malkanthi Jayasinghe, 46, who lives in North London, said she feared every knock on the door could be someone coming to take her away to an immigration removal centre.

One of the academics who helped to train Ms Jayasinghe said that trying to deport her at a time when the country is experiencing an acute shortage of maths teachers was “beyond idiocy”.

Ms Jayasinghe, who qualified and worked as a teacher in Sri Lanka, first came to the UK in 2008.

Since then she has completed an MA in education at Middlesex University and a PGCE in mathematics at the UCL Institute of Education at her own expense, and has worked as a lab technician and maths teacher, most recently at Tottenham UTC.

Tottenham UTC closed last year, and with Ms Jayasinghe between jobs, she said the Home Office seized her passport because she was not in work.

Ms Jayasinghe told Tes that she had been prevented from moving into employment since, because she needs Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) status to work in a post-16 setting, but cannot obtain this because she needs her passport to take the necessary language test.

Shortage of maths teachers

Her local MP, Theresa Villiers, has written to the Home Office asking for her to be allowed to remain in the country.

“Due to her level of qualification, and the national shortage of maths and science teachers, Ms Jayasinghe tells me that she is often being approached for positions in schools,” the letter reads.

“She has informed me, however, that she has been unable to take these job offers up due to the Home Office being in possession of her passport since 2017.

“This has also prevented her from undertaking the necessary English exams needed to become a full-time teacher.”

Ms Jayasinghe’s tutors at Middlesex University and the IOE have also written supportive letters to the Home Office.

Bereket Tesfaye, a mathematics lecturer who worked with Ms Jayasinghe when she did a year’s work experience placement at City & Islington College during her PGCE, said she had “excellent subject knowledge” and was “one of the hardest working” people she had come across during her career.

Dr Gillian Hilton, who tutored her at Middlesex University, said that she was caught in “an absolute, total Catch 22”

She told Tes that the situation was “an absolute scandal” and “beyond idiocy” at a time when the country was experiencing a shortage of maths teachers. “I’m angry at what my country is doing and I’m ashamed,” she said.

Ms Jayasinghe, who is exploring a judicial review against the government, said she was upset at the failure to recognise the contribution she had made and fearful of the future.

“I feel sad, because I really worked hard and really changed students’ lives,” she said. “Now they are just treating me as if I did nothing.

“Anytime they can come and take me to the deportation centre, that is very stressful for me thinking about that.

“Every time someone knocks on my door I feel very scared. I think ‘why is this happening to me after years doing the best for my students, is this what I deserve?’”

A spokesman for the Home Office said: “All immigration applications are considered on their individual merits and in accordance with the immigration rules.”