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Royal College OBU meets PM and Education Minister to battle out the charges against it
Pic by Indika Handuwala
The Royal College Old Boys’ Union (RCU) members met Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam earlier this week following accusations by the minister that an “old boy mafia” was engaged in fraudulent admissions to Grade 1 and that 31 cases of forged documents had been detected this year.
During the discussion, the RCU delegation had challenged the Education Minister to substantiate his public accusation, which they said had to be refuted by a public notice in the newspapers. They had asked him to name one RCU member involved in the alleged fraud.
The RCU delegation headed by former Secretary General of Parliament Nihal Seneviratne, Senior Vice President Hemaka Amarasuriya, Nimal Dias Jayasinghe, Colnel Faiz Rahman Vice Presidents, Nalin Pathikirikorale, Trustee, Athula Munasinghe, Secretary Mithila Mendis, Assistant Secretary, Chandana Aluthgama and Manju Ariyaratne, past secretaries, and Aruna Samarajeewa, a member told the Prime Minister that the RCU had been slandered in public, that there was a rapid deterioration of the school’s administration; ‘external forces’ were influencing the new Principal, particularly a past Principal and ex deputy Principal; that there were mass transfers of teachers taking place to the detriment of the school and that a ‘Sinhala Only agenda’ was being pursued at the helm of the the country’s largest state school.
During the discussion it transpired that the current Royal College principal B.A. Abeyratne had accused the old boy fraternity at the last RCU Council meeting of trying to ‘bring back the past regime’, a reference, the RCU members believed was aimed at the school’s previous Principal. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe stated that a Principal should not be in a school for more than eight years.
Minister Kariyawasam said that in the case of Royal College, 31 applicants of the Chief Occupant category had provided falsified documents and as a result the members of the entire Appeals Board had to be interdicted. The RCU delegation asked why then the Principal was spared and so too the main selection panel and sub-panels that conducted the earlier interviews. The PM intervened again and wanted the names of all the panel members and to find out how they allowed such blunders to happen especially in view of the many accusations of bribery and corruption involved with regard to Grade 1 admission.
At the request of the Minister, the Royal College Principal, the Secretary of the School Development Society (SDS) and another old boy were invited to join the discussion and counter the allegations made by the RCU members. After listening to both sides the PM advised the Principal that he should work closely with the RCU and asked Minister Malik Samarawickrema, an old Royalist who also joined the discussion to arrange a dinner between the parties to settle issues in an amicable manner.
RCU secretary Munasinghe told the Sunday Times that they were happy with the outcome of the meeting and cleared the air on allegations that the old boys were in any way involved in fraudulent admissions to Grade 1. He said that they had asked for the report of the investigating committee so that they can refute any allegations, if any, against RCU members and take remedial measures on admissions in the future.
He said that the credibility of the 14,000 strong union was at stake and that the allegations were all on the ‘Area Rule’ and documents submitted by parents, and not under the ‘Old Boys’ category.
Education Minister Kariyawasam said that the Prime Minister asked for details of the fraudulent admissions and that he was told how non-existent lawyers had provided forged documents. He maintained that “several members” (of the RCU) “are involved”, and added the PM, as an old boy of the school “wants to do everything right” and had no issue with him saying there was a “mafia” involved.
He said the PM asked the RCU to “put its house in order”.
Principal, Royal College Abeyratne refused to comment on the meeting saying “nothing special was discussed”.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said that he would meet with the RCU members again before the National New Year.