Principals instructed to halt school admissions following NEC intervention

The Ministry of Education (MoE)  has issued instructions to Principals to halt the admission of 44,000 students from National and Provincial schools, following the intervention of the National Elections Commission, an official said.

Previously the Election Commission (EC)  intervened to halt the admission of  students claiming it would amount to an Election Law violation.

Except for Grades 1, 5, 6 and 11, the MoE had approved the admission of the students to all other Grades, with the schools on the verge of accommodating the students, when the directive was made.

The decision was made following complaints from some of the Principals that the admission could amount to a violation of Election Laws. They said the admission letters reaching them were backdated to September 16, a day before the elections were announced.

A spokesman for the Education Minister told the Sunday Times that a gazette notification in relation to the admission, had been issued much prior to the announcement of the elections and therefore, it was not illegal to grant the appointments.

The  MoE Secretary M.N. Ranasinghe said as the admissions were being considered as a violation of election laws they had decided to issue instructions accordingly to the Principals.

Mr Ranasinghe said further that 10,000 schools were issued with these instructions and that letters that were issued to students would be withdrawn.

Other minor appointments as well have also been halted in view of the upcoming elections.

(Reporting by Damith Wickremasekera)