MoE ‘ignores’ Teachers soliciting bribes for school admissions: CTU
View(s):The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) said the Ministry of Education (MoE) has failed to take action against teachers soliciting bribes from parents for their children’s school admission. CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin was reacting to last weeks Colombo High Court sentence of 8 years Rigorous Imprisonment for a principal who accepted a bribe of Rs 25,000 to admit a child to a school.
He said the case was filed at the Bribery Commission in 2008. However, the MoE had failed to take action against this principal, allowing her to function as the principal of Panadura Mahanama Navodaya College. Mr Stalin said that, recently, the individual was even promoted to the post of Zonal Education Director, Bandaragama.
He elaborated that several complaints of this nature had been brought to the notice of the MoE, but to no avail, as the authorities have failed to take action on the complaints. “This must change. They should not wait till the courts decide on their misdeeds to punish them,” he said.