Ministry Secretary forces principals to admit students to intermediate grades in popular schools

The principals of 37 so-called popular government schools were forced to admit 2,237 students to intermediate grades based on letters issued directly to them by the Education Ministry Secretary between January 2020 and May 2022, bypassing formal procedures that were introduced to ensure fairness, a special report by the National Audit Office (NAO) states.

Most letters were more in the form of an order, the NAO points out— reading as “inform to admit the relevant child to the school and to report it to me." Among the schools that received the most number of letters were Ananda College Colombo, Visakha Vidyalaya Colombo, Royal College Colombo, Sirimawo Balika Vidyalaya Colombo and Nalanda College Colombo.

The total number of letters granted by the Secretary during the period was more than 4,775 and the bulk of them—72 percent—were written in response to requests, representations, and orders from public representatives, including ministers, heads of departments, the Presidential Secretariat, the Prime Minister’s office, and Parliament.

The NAO’s “Special Audit Report on the Admission of Students to Intermediate Grades in National Schools in the Years during the Period from 01 January 2020 to 31 May 2022” states that the Education Ministry authorities have violated not only their own circulars but also instructions and criteria introduced by the Cabinet to deal with intense competition.

The designated number of children for a class is a maximum of 40 from grades 1 to 5 and 45 from grades 6 to 11. In the prevailing situation, students and teachers “have suffered psychologically and physically due to the admission of students beyond these numbers,” the NAO holds.

Moreover, officers working in the Education Ministry and affiliated institutions have also been afforded a privilege not given to other parents in the direct issuance of letters by the Secretary to various principals— without even going through a formal admissions application process, the report says.

With regard to letters issued at the behest of politicians, the NAO says eligible students have lost equal access to national schools recognised as “popular” as their parents don’t have favour from influential groups.

It was observed that principals “had become dissatisfied with their duties” because of the Ministry Secretary issuing letters throughout the year to admit students to intermediate grades. Parents also kept arriving at the school with such letters “and the secretary had not listened to the problems faced by the principals regarding the constant inquiries made by various external parties, including political authorities over the telephone on the admission of students…” The principals also had difficulty admitting students without vacancies.

A large number of letters issued by a committee appointed by the Education Ministry Secretary to evaluate applications were delivered to politicians and their staff, Education Ministry staff and to principals without being handed over to the relevant parents or guardians, the NAO reveals.

The Education Ministry Secretary has issued conditions for the admission of students to intermediate grades in national schools. However, 69 percent of letters issued by the Secretary between January and December 2021 granted approval to principals to admit students to their schools without condition. Between January and May last year, 97 percent of 1,630 letters showed the same trend.

The titles of the files that the NAO examined predominantly mentioned the name of the public representative, the political authority, or other influential persons who had made the admission request and were not even under the name of the relevant student or guardian. Moreover, the secretary wanted priority granted to demands made by “some political representatives”.

Scholarship recipients who passed “a very competitive examination” lost opportunities to be admitted to popular schools due to insufficient space.

It was observed that principals “had become dissatisfied with their duties” because of the Ministry Secretary issuing letters throughout the year to admit students to intermediate grades

The report recommends introducing measures to prevent the intervention of external parties and prevent the further deterioration of the quality of education. Even in the relevant committee appointed to peruse admissions, the secretary introduced a private staff member of the minister to supervise decisions, thereby causing reluctance among public officials (who are in the committee) to make decisions based on their professional knowledge.