The 2022 annual auditor general report claimed that 2,367 children have been enrolled in popular schools outside the formal system for nearly three years.
The report revealed that informal enrollment occurred between January 1, 2020, and May 31, 2022.
According to the report, it is said that the Education Ministry Secretary had issued 3,308 letters for the admission of children outside of the formal system.
Meanwhile, Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) secretary Joseph Stalin pointed out that 72% of these letters have been issued based on requests by officials, including ministers, Members of Parliament, the Presidential Secretariat, and the Prime Minister's Office.
He said some letters had been submitted without any formal application forms, and the children's admission letters had been issued not to the parents but to the applicants.
The Grade 5 scholarship recipients are seriously affected by these activities.
The secretary revealed that last year, 41 letters were issued to Visakha College, Colombo, 48 to Ananda College, and 38 to Nalanda College, Colombo, for the Grade 5 scholarship classes.
A total of 33 letters have been issued to Sirimavo Bandaranaike Girls' College, Colombo; 31 letters to Maliyadeva Boys' College, Kurunegala; 48 to Maliadeva Girls' College, Kurunegala and 29 to Dharmaraja College, Kandy.
It is also stated that 30 letters have been issued to Mahamaya Girls' School in Kandy, 15 to Kingswood College in Kandy, and 31 letters to the Girls' High School, in Kandy.
Stalin also points out that because of such informal enrolments, the children who had passed their scholarship examination have lost their chances in being admitted to Grade 6.
(dailymirror.lk)
