Education sector Trade Unions and parents of schoolchildren threatened legal action and protest demonstrations if the government did not revoke the circular (05/2015) that has legitimized the charging of monies and if the government failed to take action against school principals who charge for admissions.
The Ceylon Teachers' Union (CTU) noted that large-scale corruption was taking place in the admission and of students to Advanced Level classes in schools.
Corrupt school principals? What action asks Stalin
BY Ruwan Laknath Jayakody
Education sector Trade Unions and parents of schoolchildren threatened legal action and protest demonstrations if the government did not revoke the circular (05/2015) that has legitimized the charging of monies and if the government failed to take action against school principals who charge for admissions.
The Ceylon Teachers' Union (CTU) noted that large-scale corruption was taking place in the admission and of students to Advanced Level classes in schools.
General Secretary of the CTU Joseph Stalin said that Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa, allegedly charged Rs 12,100, Vidyartha College, Kandy, Rs 14,140, Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo, Rs 10,600 and Royal College, Colombo, Rs 13,100.
The previous circular issued by the Ministry of Education was 23/2013 and 11/2013, and circular no. 05/2015 was issued on 25 January, and investigations were conducted into bribery and corruption allegations in 23. Ten schools will be initially investigated based on a circular issued by the Ministry of Education on 26, February, 2015. Popular schools are mere media spectacles, he added.
What is being done about the Principal of Royal College, Colombo H.A. Upali Gunasekera, who has cases against him at the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption and the Public Service Commission? he asked.
Why are the limits imposed on how many students can lawfully ( as per a Supreme Court judgment given by a bench including former Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake,) be accommodated and allocated to a class, being violated and excessively so? he also asked.
"If a certain expense at a school costs
Rs 500,000, they will divide the amount by 3,000 which is the number of students, prior to apportioning individual amounts. The estimated budget of Ananda College, Colombo is Rs 60 million and each student will allegedly have to pay Rs 6,000. Do we need a Ministry of Education or government? Where is free education? All this places a massive burden on parents. Reveal to the country what is being done with regard to corrupt principals. The Education Ministry Secretary too is allegedly aiding such efforts. The teacher to student ratio is 1:20. In 2014 a class was to have 45 students, in 2015, 40 and in 2016, it was to be 35. In both, Ananda College, Colombo, and Royal College, Colombo and 34 other popular schools, classes have students exceeding 45. Admissions still take place based on letters from zonal and provincial education officers. Minister of Education Akila Viraj Kariyawasam talks of a massive fraud with regard to purchasing computers on funding from the Asian Development Bank, yet what is happening to the investigation? Korea gave 3,000 pianos, and elsewhere Sri Lanka received 30,000 green e-boards. What has happened to these along with school uniforms? These misappropriations are of tax payers' monies. Gunasekera has served for 10 to 12 years now. Why is he not being transferred? The maintenance of schools including electricity bills are the government's responsibility.
Swimming pools in schools like Thurstan College, Colombo are registered as companies and in some instances they have been constructed by old boys or old girls, the maintenance too must be borne by them," Stalin remarked.
