CTU requests President revoke circular levying fees for school maintenance

The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) has written to President Maithripala Sirisena requesting him to revoke a circular that permits schools to charge children for their education in terms of expenses incurred by the school.

According to Circular no. 5/ 2015 of 29.01.2015, schools are expected to levy a fee up to Rs.10,000 or more as charges on various activities in schools. This includes the maintenance of the library and its security and books.

CTU’s, Joseph Stalin said that students in different Grades have to pay varying amounts stipulated in the circular. Interestingly, the schools in Colombo have been categorised and the amount the students have to pay annually has already been charged from the students.

Accordingly, Ananda College with 6,192 students, collects Rs 7,997 to Rs 16,494 per student, DS Senanayake with 5,609 students collects Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000, Devi Balika Vidyalaya has 2,395 students and collects Rs 4,790 to Rs 6,330, Nalanda Vidyalaya has 4,295 students and collects Rs 3,010 to Rs 9,440 and Rajakeeya Vidyalaya with 7,584 students collects Rs 6,530 to Rs 10,800, to mention a few.

The total amount levied on the above five schools only, amounts to a whopping Rs 148.5 million (approximately).

Stalin charges that the whole exercise is in contradiction to the free education concept. This government had agreed to allocate 6% of the Budget to the Education sector and always maintained they are spending more than the agreed amount. “However, it is all a myth,” said Stalin.

The CTU recalled that, in 2013, when a schoolgirl was charged in courts for stealing coconuts from a neighbour’s land, to find money to pay for a school programme, the government, by circular 2013/ 11, banned all schools from collecting money from students for various activities.

But now, irrespective of the 2013 circular, the new government has issued a counter circular, No. 5/2015 legalising the levy of a fee from students in National schools. Interestingly, Stalin said there are plans to extend this exercise to Provincial schools as well.

Ironically, the levy from schoolchildren has been a continuous exercise for the past several years, despite successive governments issuing circulars tabooing such levies.