Scrap Uniform Vouchers and distribute Uniform Material- CTU
View(s):The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) last week said that it would be profitable for the Government to scrap the Uniform Voucher (UV) system and revert to the distribution of school Uniform material to schoolchildren.
This comes in the wake of the revelations made by a Ministry of Education (MOE) officer at the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Corruption and Irregularities within the State sector, that a massive sum of Rs 450 million was lost in the distribution of UVs to 4.3 million schoolchildren.
CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said that, despite Education unions repeatedly protesting Government moves to distribute UVs, instead of the Uniform material, the MoE had continued distributing UVs in 2017 and 2018.
The MoE had argued that the distribution of UVs prevented corruption in the procurement of Uniform material for schoolchildren.
Mr Stalin urged the MoE to revert to distribution of Uniform material next year. “They can strictly adhere to all procurement criteria laid out in the 19th Amendment, to avoid corruption,” he said.
- CC