New guidelines for schools' development
The Education Ministry issued a circular last week prohibiting the
school authorities from collecting money irrationally from students
throughout the year.
The four-page circular issued by the Secretary to the Education
Ministry, Upali Marasinghe outlined that, other than the stipulated
school fees collected at the beginning of every year, no one is allowed
to ask for money from students or parents. The directive said the
collection of money in the guise of school development work, past pupil
association activities or class circles for different expenses have been
strictly prohibited.
The schools have been asked to list out the regular expenses of a
school and obtain the approval of the Ministry to raise whatever that is
shortcoming to meet the water, electricity and other mandatory expenses
of a school. All these collections will have to be subject for
government audit under new regulations. The construction of new
buildings and any modifications to the schools too have been freezed
temporarily. The the expansion of classroom faciliteis with the idea of
increasing the number of classes in popular schools have also been
stopped.
The circular said it is permitted for the Past Pupils' Associations
or any individual to donate funds or equipement to schools through a
proper procedure that can be subject to auditing to prevent corruption
and malpractices in the school system.
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