Having overseen an unprecedented calamity, the government is shedding its responsibility to fund school expenses. Even meals are being denied to students. Last week, the Treasury refused to pay for the water used up in schools. The Water Board is sending monthly bills to schools, which in turn, have sought help from parents to pay [...]

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State sheds duty to give school meals, fund printing costs

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Having overseen an unprecedented calamity, the government is shedding its responsibility to fund school expenses. Even meals are being denied to students.

Last week, the Treasury refused to pay for the water used up in schools. The Water Board is sending monthly bills to schools, which in turn, have sought help from parents to pay bills.

This week, the provincial education authorities refused to print the question papers for the third term exams of last year, postponed due to school shutdowns during the pandemic.

Some provincial authorities have agreed to prepare the questions for grade 11 students only in view of the Ordinary Level exams to be held in May. However, the question papers will be in Compact Discs and the schools must bear the cost of printing.

Several schools have not received the CDs on time despite the exams being scheduled to be held in two days.

Teachers claim the whole system is in a disarray.

The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) said that schools have now turned to parents to bear the cost of printing question papers.

General secretary, Joseph Stalin said that the Western province had first promised to prepare the question papers for grades 9, 10, and 11 requesting that schools prepare papers for grades 6 and 7 only. Now they have undertaken to prepare question papers only for grade 11 students in view of them sitting the national exams in May.

The third term exams are ongoing and will end on April 7.

The cost of printing one page is about Rs. 17 and with a shortage of A4 paper in the country the cost has skyrocketed. Parents are spending Rs. 200 for a student.

“This is another burden on economically stricken families already reeling under the skyrocketing cost of living,’’ Mr. Stalin said.

The provincial education departments have said they do not have funds and have suggested that if schools are unable to have the exams, to postpone.

The central province also had indicated to schools its inability to hold the exams at national level signaling that the exams be held at school level.

Nuwara Eliya district secretary V. Indraselvan said that students had missed out on the provincial exams in 2020 during the pandemic shut downs.

Exams held at provincial levels give students the experience and confidence to face national exams, he said.

In practice, exams in all schools are held at school level in the first term and at zonal levels in the second term. At the third, the provincial education department takes over.

Following arguments that the move would deprive students in grade 6 to 10 the experience of sitting exams at national level, the provincial education department had sent out sample questions to schools for these grades.

Teachers have been asked to type and print out the question papers at their own expense.

The cost of preparing one question paper would be about Rs. 800.

The questionnaire for grade 11 has been prepared by the provincial education department and sent out for printing at schools’ expense.

Only a few schools in the central province have duplo machines and getting the questions printed on time has become another hassle.

Students have been asked to tick the answers for multiple choice questions on the question paper itself.

Some schools have planned to have the questions written on blackboards.

Meanwhile, children have been waiting for hours for public buses and are late to school. Their journeys home are also delayed.

In some instances, children have been stranded on roads because buses are dropping them somewhere to go refuel.

In one such incident at Kotagala, Nuwara Eliya children had to wait in the scorching sun for hours to be picked up later by the same bus driver.

These areas have restricted public transport and private transport has also become scarce because of a shortage of fuel.

School services have also threatened to shut down because of fuel issues.

Additionally, higher bus fares are hurting the poor.

Children are also being denied regular meals given in schools.

Incessant power cuts are inconveniencing students who are straining under candlelight or light from a kerosene oil lamp. Candles and lamps are also costlier.

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