Letters to the Editor

From the President in 2002 to the Supreme Court in 2007, decisions and rulings have been given to solve the problem of new admissions.

All solutions have not addressed the basic cause. Over the years, the population has reached the 20 million mark, but the number of schools has not increased as successive governments and their ministers of education have applied short term solutions.

In 1977, I as the newly elected MP for Panadura was faced with this problem when the constituents wanted their children admitted to Ananda, Royal, Visakha Vidyalaya and other leading schools in Colombo. Since it was impossible to get the new students admitted to them, I commenced two new schools, one for boys and another for girls in Panadura- Royal College and Agamathi Balika Vidyalaya.

I managed to get two good teachers -from Ananda College, Mr. Vitharana and Mrs. Perera from Visakha Vidyalaya as the principals and within no time the two schools blossomed. Today, they have become two leading schools which have produced engineers, architects, doctors and accountants. Chamara Silva, the Sri Lankan cricketer is a product of Royal College, Panadura.
These two schools were the only two schools to come up in Panadura after Balika Vidyalaya which was established over 20 years earlier in 1950 by Dr. D.C.W. Kannangara when he was the MP.

Now 25 years later there is an unmet demand for these two schools. The only solution is to have six more schools in the Panadura electorate, two schools each in Wadduwa, Panadura and Keselwatte for boys and girls respectively. It is a futile exercise to have rules for admission which will in any case lead to abuse and heartburn.

If the government and Minister of Education are seriously concerned about admissions, the only solution is to commence more fully equipped schools in the country where there is a demand. The present popular schools in the island are bursting at the seams. The teachers have no control over the students and there is growing indiscipline. They are hotbeds for JVP recruitment.
The problem must be solved immediately as every end of year is a period of anxiety, heartburn and frustration.

We need more schools with better facilities