Divisional Secretaries to help with school admissions

by S.M. Wijayaratne, Kurunegala Cor

The Ministry of Education will obtain the assistance of Divisional Secretaries in admitting students to government schools from next year.

School heads will have the authority to admit students to 'in between grades', but when there are appeals by parents to be considered, Divisional Secretaries will preside over the Boards of Appeals. The Zonal Director of Education or the Divisional Secretary will have to preside over the Boards of Appeals.

The proposal in this regard has already been forwarded for Cabinet approval.

The names of selected students must be displayed in the school notice board which will be the duty and responsibility of the principal.

After this circular is issued, appeals for admitting students would not be entertained except under exceptional circumstances, Director of Education W.M. Balasooriya told a meeting of school heads of the Kurunegala district at Bingiriya.

He said there is a big rush to admit students to urban and popular schools in the Kurunegala district and all parents want their children to get admitted to popular schools in towns and consequently, many remote government schools in the Kurunegala and Puttalam districts are on the verge of closing down due to lack of students.