Sri Lanka’s Voice against Corruption organization says government schools continue to collect funds from students despite the President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s directive to suspend the activity.
The convener of the Voice against Corruption, former MP of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Wasantha Samarasinghe said the teachers and principals of the government schools have become sheer money collectors.
Outlining a number of incidents of collecting money in island wide schools, Samarasinghe said that in response to their announcement calling for information regarding fund raising in schools, the anti-corruption organization received 2,616 complaints.
Samarasinghe pointed out that the government has allocated mere 1.56 percent of the GDP for the education of 4.1 million students. The school authorities are prompted in this backdrop to collect money for various purposes such as security, sanitary facilities, furniture, functions and development etc.
The Ministry of Education earlier said it will issue a circular under the direction of the President Mahinda Rajapaksa to prevent fund-raising in both national and provincial government schools.
President Rajapaksa decided to issue the directive following the arrest of a 13-year-old female student by the police for stealing coconuts worth of 800 rupees to raise funds to paint her school.
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