CTU condemns Rs 8m spent on scrapped Circular
View(s):The Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) last week, while lauding the government’s plan to scrap the Circular on Planning and Procurement for School-Based Quality, Quantitative and Structural Development, said it has unnecessarily spent large sums on the project. It is learned that the Ministry of Education (MoE) which introduced the circular on June 26, 2018, has spent Rs 8 million on educating the school authorities on how the monies should be collected.
CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said that although Circular No. 26/2018 was to come into effect from January 1, 2019, school authorities had already started collecting funds from parents of students, as School Development Funds and for other activities. He said the Circular has enabled unscrupulous school authorities to collect funds openly, even demanding monies from parents who cannot afford to pay the sums solicited.
The absence of regulations on the collection of monies too, has enabled authorities to indulge in rampant misappropriation of funds. It is learned that school authorities have utilised these funds to rent out portions of school buildings and land, where stalls have been built and rented out to traders.
The government last week announced that Circular No. 26/2018 will be scrapped and instead, Circular No. 15/2015 come into effect, which allows principals to obtain approval from the MoE to collect funds from students to balance the school budget.
- CC