DailyMirror
Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena said yesterday school admissions would be conducted in a simplified manner by a committee consisting of the school principal, representatives of the staff, past pupils and parents. The minister made the announcement when addressing education officers of the Kurunegala district.
“If any injustice appears to have been done to any student, the Education Ministry will get directly involved,” the minister said.
“The competition to enter so-called popular schools will be non existent next year as there have a number of unanswered questions floating around including that of bribes when it comes to such admissions,” he said.
The minister alleged that some principals, education officials, politicians and teachers were involved in corrupt practices under the present system.
He said it was necessary to elevate the profession of teaching to its rightful place in society as that of a vocation and for that corruption, fraud and cheating in the education sector must be stopped.
He said in future question papers would be prepared by the schools while a few questions would be set by the central government as a random form of checking a student’s knowledge.
Deputy Education Minister T.B. Ekanayake, North Western Provincial Council Chief Secretary W.G. Dayananda and North Western Province Education Director J.B.S. Thilekeratne also expressed their views.