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Top schools for doctors’ children: Akila says ‘No’ to Rajitha’s ‘Yes’
View(s):By Chrishanthi Christopher
The ongoing dispute over admitting doctors’ children to popular schools continues, with the Education Minister taking a tough stand, but the Health Minister appearing to take a softer line. ”The doctors’ request is unacceptable and cannot be acceded to,” Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said after the doctors met with Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne to resolve the dispute by getting admission to the children.
Mr. Kariywasam told the Sunday times the admission system would have to be breached if the GMOA’s demands were to be met. He said there was a procedure to be followed in the admission of children to Grade One of schools and there would be chaos if this was not adhered to.
The Education Minister said the procedure was designed to give every child a school, and priority could not be given to children of doctors.”If I do this it will create a precedent to other officials in the state sector. This will be discriminatory to the ordinary people,” he said.
According to regulations, a classroom can only have 35 students and the school authorities have reported that they have the maximum numbers. “Some principals and teachers have even warned they would resign, if the number was increased,” he said.
Around 200 doctors on transfer this year, stormed into the Education Ministry’s office on Wednesday, demanding a meeting with Minister Kariyawasam on the issue of schools for their children.
They alleged that their children had not got good schools following their transfers to new stations and that the children be given priority to enter the 12 popular schools in the country. The minister said that in one instance, a doctor who was transferred to a hospital within five kilometres of where had been in Colombo was asking his child be admitted to a top school in Colombo.
GMOA spokesman Nalinda Herath said Health Minister Senaratne had promised he would give them a favourable solution by the end of this week.
Minister Kariyawasam said Dr.Senaratne had not spoken to him but in any event he could not and would not violate the procedure. The GMOA has suggested that a quota be given to doctors and the GMOA could distribute the quota among its members. But Mr. Kariyawasam had rejected this proposals saying many doctors also felt that the distribution might not be fair.
Meanwhile, the Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) has condemned the doctors’ demand that the best schools be given to their children.
CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said that if the request was adhered to, the poor people’s children would suffer and their quotas would be snatched by the privileged doctors.