Education Sec. says he did not issue letters for student admissions

Once he took over, the Education Ministry issued a circular with guidelines to regulate the admission of students to intermediate grades of public schools, Education Secretary M. N. Ranasinghe said this week.

He was responding to a Sunday Times story published last week which cited the National Audit Office as saying the principals of 37 so-called popular Government schools were forced to admit 2,237 students to intermediate grades between January 2020 and May 2022, based on letters issued directly to them by the

Education Secretary. This was allegedly done bypassing formal procedures introduced to ensure fairness.

The audit reports of 2020, 2021, and May 31, 2022, about these admissions have been submitted before the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), Mr. Ranasinghe’s office told the Sunday Times.

“During the period mentioned above, the current Education Secretary was not holding any position at the Education Ministry. He took over as the Education Secretary after the period mentioned in the audit report,” a statement said.

“Furthermore, after the current Secretary assumed office, a new circular has been issued with the approval of the Cabinet regarding the admission of students to the intermediate grades of public schools,” it added.

The NAO in a special audit report also revealed 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, Department Heads, officials from the Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s office and Parliamentarians.

During the period mentioned above, the current Education Secretary was not holding any position at the Education Ministry. He took over as the Education Secretary after the period mentioned in the audit report”