Sunday Times 2
Schools foisting low-quality uniforms on children in voucher ‘trade’
Four schools in the Wattegama zonal division have come under fire for selling uniform material and shoes to schoolchildren.
It is learned that two teams from the Education Department of the Central Province were interrogated last week over their alleged actions in compelling children to buy uniform material and shoes at Vipulanatha Tamil Vidyalam (TV), Gombara TV, Hagala TV and Kurungi TV.
A van selling uniform material and shoes at a school premises
The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) said officials at several Central Province schools had been busy trading uniform material and shoes for vouchers given to schoolchildren by the government.
CTU Secretary V. Indraselvan said principals and teachers in the plantation sector were conniving with traders and selling uniform material and shoes on school premises.
This activity was occurring at the Walapane Zonal Liddesdale Tamil Maha Vidylayam (TMV), Silverkandy TMV, Nuwara Eliya Holirindy College, Nuwara Eliya Primary, Nuwara Eliya Navalar College, Nuwara Eliya Navalar Primary and Nuwara Eliya Carlaback TV, the CTU in Nuwara Eliya claimed.
Uniforms and shoes were also being distributed at the Nuwara Eliya Wanigeoya TV, Nuwara Eliya Galganthawatha TV, Nuwara Eliya Gradwestran TV, Nuwara Eliya Palmastran TV and Nuwara Eliya Matekell TV Talawakelle.
Mr. Indraselvan said substandard uniforms and shoes were being handed out to unsuspecting parents who would otherwise have had the choice of shopping for the best material and shoes for their children with their vouchers.
He said the very same activities took place last year but on a smaller scale. Children had complained that the material handed out to them was of low quality and easily became worn out. The shoes, they claimed, were ill-fitting and many of the children had developed painful cuts on their feet.
“When we wore slippers to school because of the wounds from the shoe cuts we were reprimanded for not wearing shoes,” one student said.
CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said some schools in Colombo were also reportedly selling uniform material.
He also said a school in Colombo 10, Central Hindu College, had demanded that parents donate Rs. 300 to the building maintenance fund to receive the vouchers. One parent said he had only been given his child’s vouchers after an argument with the school authorities.
The distribution of uniform vouchers for 2019 was delayed as a result of the dissolution of parliament by President Maithripala Sirisena on October 26, 2018. The government has extended the validity of the vouchers up to February 28, 2019.