//REPEAT//EDUCATION-SRI LANKA: Scandalous Rush For Prestigious Schools

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Apr 21 2000 (IPS) - A respectable computer engineer had no compunctions about forging a fake residency certificate and paying a hefty bribe to secure admission for his son in a prestigious government school.

“I had to do this to ensure that my son could attend this school – if my children don’t go to the best schools their job prospects are doomed,” the engineer said.

The engineer’s case was not isolated and a scandalous rush for seats in prestigious schools forced the government to announce, Thursday, strict enforcement of rules requiring children to seek admission to schools within a two kilometer radius of their homes.

Parents must also produce proof of having resided within the specified radius for at least six years with exemptions given to children of alumni and those of military personnel posted in conflict areas.

But over the years determined parents have discovered ingenious ways of circumventing the law and coach their children to lie when asked by school officials where they reside and back it up with false residency certificates.

“I am told that for 50,000 rupees (694 dollars) you can get a bogus address and a six-year residency certificate,” said Prof. Lakshmana Jayatillake, chairman of the state-run National Education Commission (NEC).

Other officials said residents, particularly those living in slums and shanties in Colombo, have “sold” property rights many times over to people seeking an address or residency rights to enable their children to go to a prestigious school.

Having secured admission in a Colombo school, the children travel long distances from their real homes to attend classes with authorities helpless to do anything about it.

“The problem is not only in Colombo. It is also exists in other districts like Kandy Matara and Kurunegala where there are good public schools,” says Nimal Gamage, senior assistant secretary at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.

On Thursday, the ministry announced it was formulating a new national policy on admissions following public protests over the current system and invited representations from the public.

“The ministry welcomes novel proposals and innovative ideas to streamline the school admission procedure and to develop a more reasonable and transparent scheme for admission to schools,” the announcement said.

Last month, President Chandrika Kumaratunga herself expressed concern over the abuse of the admissions system during a meeting with education officials and suggested an overhaul.

According to officials the abuse is mostly in the 350 national schools. There are another 10,800 state schools in the country serving a school-going population of 4.3 million students.

Parents are anxious to get their children into the big public schools in the city because they have better teachers, facilities and the right name when it comes to looking for a job.

In Colombo, for instance, parents prefer prestigious schools like Royal College (for boys) and Visaka College (girls) which are flooded with applications for a handful of vacancies each year.

The scramble for seats by parents armed with with fake residency certificates cheats children, who genuinely live within the prescribed radius, of their seats. In fact, Thursday’s announcement was prompted by parents of these children.

Prof. Jayatillake believes that the rush for big name schools is unwarranted and that potential employers nowadays demand qualifications and aptitude more than anything else.

“Business leaders have told me that students fro Royal or Visaka are not placed higher in the selection process and that everybody is treated as equal,” he said.

But such opinions vary and the principal of another Colombo schools said Royal was still preferred by the business community when it comes to recruitments.

“The best teachers go there (Royal) and it gets the best students – the cream. My schools gets students who have failed to seek admission to Royal and teachers who may not have the same skills,” he said.

Earlier this year, officials in the education ministry hinted at plans to shut down some 2,650 state schools which had fewer

than 100 pupils each and transfer them to larger schools under a rationalisation programme

Officials say there has been a marked decline in enrollments to smaller schools in the past few years probably because parents preferred to send their children to bigger schools with better facilities.

Prof. Jayatillake said schools across the country are being upgraded and better equipped. “We want to ensure that schools across the island would have similar or almost-equal facilities to eliminate problems like the admission issue.”

He said an Asian Development Bank (AsDB) funded project would commence next year in which under-developed schools would be provided with computers, laboratories and other teaching aids.

A World Bank project, currently underway, also aims to equip schools and raise the skills of teachers through the creation of teacher-education centres.