Grade One admission: Upcountry parents have no money to give donation
View(s):Several upcountry schools, including Tamil schools, are demanding cash and other donations for grade one admission, in violation of an Education Ministry circular, parents complain.
Central Province Zonal education directors, to whom the complaint was made, have now summoned a meeting for principals and parents to discuss the issue. The parents say they are struggling to make ends meet with their daily wage and, therefore, are not in a position to make any form of donation. “As we don’t have money to give donation, the only option is to keep the children at home without sending them to school,” a distraught parent said.
The Education Ministry has repeatedly announced that seeking donations was illegal. - P. Thirukethees