Parents besiege HRC after child's Grade 1 rejection

Parents whose children have been denied admission to Grade 1, are seeking the help of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) for redress. HRC Chairman Dr Deepika Udagama, addressing the media at an event in Kandy, said that, nearly 70 complaints have been received regarding school admissions this year alone, and that, a high number of complaints are from Colombo, Matara and Kandy Districts, for admissions to the so-called “Super” schools.

“The Electricity bills of some schools are more than Rs 500,000 per month. There are problems how the resources are distributed among the schools,” she said.

A significant number of complaints regarding the admission of students to Govt. schools have been reported to the HRC, despite attempts by the Ministry of Education ( MoE) to reduce the number of such complaints, by introducing guidelines for school admissions.

Earlier, the MoE said that, a new set of guidelines for school admis- sions, to resolve disputes over house ownership, proof of residency and to make a fair system to calculate the proximity to school, would be introduced starting 2017.

The new system was expected to notify parents about the reasons for the rejection of applications as well.

However, the MoE was not able to put out the guidelines for 2017 admissions, and no immediate signs either, of the guidelines for next year’s admissions, for which the process commences within the next 3 months.