A commendable move

Every year, parents scramble to get their sons and daughters admitted to the first grade of the best schools in the country. This is a mad rush that has given rise to acts of deception and corruption as parents seek to go to any lengths to secure the best schools for their offspring.

School admissions have become a very controversial subject because of this factor. There have been many instances where principals and other school authorities have been caught accepting various forms of incentives from parents eager to get their children admitted to leading schools. Parents are also known to lie about their place of residence and furnish other false information in this process. Worse, they even instruct their children to tell lies at selection interviews.

Over the years, there have been many calls to clean up and revamp the entire process of school admissions. The education authorities too tried many avenues to address the issue over the years.

Even the Supreme Court had to intervene in this matter on several occasions, not to mention the many lawsuits filed by frustrated parents who could not enrol their children to the leading schools in Colombo and other major cities.

Sunday’s newspapers reported that a new system of admission to Grade I introduced with Cabinet approval would adequately address complaints of corruption and favouritism, offering a fair deal to all prospective and eligible students and their parents.

This is a commendable move, given the contentious nature of the matter in question. All parents and school heads will welcome it. All aspects of the present admissions system should be reviewed and the shortcomings rectified.

Under the new system, principals of other schools where admissions are not sought, will chair the Appeal Boards, with observers from the offices of the Directors of Education and the Provincial Education Ministries.

The principals of these schools will chair the Interview Boards for selections, unlike in the previous years when officials of the Education Ministry chaired the Interview Boards.

The biggest benefit of the new system is that school principals who wielded power for admissions and were inclined to favouritism or acts of corruption would be under scrutiny. This will give all prospective applicants a fair chance. Setting the deadline for June will also provide ample time for all concerned.

But the best way to end this protracted problem would be providing equal facilities to all schools and bringing even the rural schools on par with the best schools in the cities. Admissions will remain a problem as long as this disparity prevails in our education system. At least one school in a given electorate must be developed to the level of the best schools in Colombo. Then parents will have no reason to scramble for the so-called leading schools.

Parents are reluctant to admit their children to schools near their residences fearing that their standards are not up to the mark. True, many schools in the country lack teachers for various subjects and proper facilities. There are many shortcomings as far as equipment is concerned.

This has given rise to the notion that only the so-called ‘elite schools’ in Colombo and a few other cities such as Kandy and Galle offer the best in terms of education and extra-curricular development.

The Government must be commended for its plans to improve all schools islandwide, including those in the emerging North and the East. A delegation of Ministers and MPs who recently visited Northern schools have identified several shortcomings in these schools and recommended measures for improvement. This matter should be followed upon and appropriate action taken.

Sri Lankans are proud of their free education system. Indeed, only a few other countries offer such a system of free education literally from the cradle to the grave. Our education indices are second to none.

The State incurs a massive level of expenditure each year on schools, teachers and staff (this Government raised teachers’ salaries several times), free school uniforms and textbooks and educational equipment for schools and universities.

New Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena has promised to review all aspects of education including admissions and the much-maligned examinations. Along with eminent educationists, he should study and identify the shortcomings in the State education sector with a view to taking corrective action. Indeed, half the battle would have been won if the education authorities could put the admissions system in order.