Out of touch, out of depth Minister: How schools teach Minister Amarasuriya the art of collecting money

The recent assertion by Prime Minister and Minister of Education Harini Amarasuriya that Government schools are prohibited from collecting money beyond annual facilities fees and that any such collections must “stop immediately”, if they exist, may sound principled. To parents who live within the system, however, it sounds painfully detached from reality.

I write as a parent of a student at Royal College Colombo, and what I describe here is based on direct experience. From conversations with parents in other leading schools in Colombo, it is clear that Royal is not an exception; it is merely a prominent example of a wider and deeply entrenched problem.

Highest facility fees, no accountability and lack of transparency

Royal College charges some of the highest annual facilities fees among Government schools. Yet, despite this, parents are largely in the dark as to how that money is actually used. Parents had to repeatedly pressure the Principal to release the 2024/25 annual accounts, which were disclosed only after sustained insistence. The accompanying audit report was scathing, raising serious questions about financial governance. Some say that proper records were often not maintained, making meaningful auditing difficult.

The School Development Society (SDS)—which operates under the Ministry and the school administration has, in practice, become deeply compromised. No responsible official was able to clearly explain how the facilities fees collected over the past year were spent or how those funds benefited students. Despite widespread awareness that many collections are illegal, money continues to be extracted from parents throughout the year under various labels. No SDS office bearer has been held accountable, a failure that ultimately falls within the Minister’s own department.

How the system bypasses the law

Illegal money collection does not happen crudely; it happens very methodically.

Most teachers are not involved in these malpractices. They work hard and do their best for the children, and this criticism is not directed at them. The problem lies with a small but entrenched group, comprising certain administrators and long established staff who dominate decision making and suppress internal dissent.

Funds are rarely collected directly by those involved. Instead, selected parents aligned with the administration act as intermediaries, collecting money into personal bank accounts or in physical cash, sometimes even at school gates. Purchases are then channelled to preferred suppliers, often at inflated prices and questionable quality, without transparent procurement processes, competitive quotations, or accountability.

When a parent raises an objection, the response is predictable. Administrators hurriedly collect letters from other parents stating that the payments were made “voluntarily”. A paper trail is artificially created, and the illegality is cosmetically erased.

This is not ignorance of the law. It is deliberate circumvention.

Why parents stay silent

Most parents remain silent not because they approve, but because they fear consequences. There is a widely held belief, supported by experience, that children may be penalised if their parents speak out. In such an environment, silence becomes a survival strategy.

Complaints to authorities, whether the Ministry of Education, CIABOC, RTI, or the Human Rights Commission, rarely result in timely or meaningful action. Files stagnate. Investigations drag on or quietly die. Incompetence, indifference, and at times corruption within Government departments ensure that even well documented complaints go nowhere. Those running school level rackets understand this reality very well.

Circulars do not dismantle corruption

Against this backdrop, the Minister’s call for schools to simply “stop collecting money” is not merely ineffective; it is insulting to parents who endure these practices in silence.

Everyone inside the system already knows that such collections are illegal. The problem has never been awareness. The problem is the lack of enforcement.

The administrative mafias operating in elite Government schools are far too sophisticated to be deterred by circulars. They know there is no effective monitoring, no protection for whistleblowers, and no real punishment for violations. Issuing statements without ensuring enforcement serves no purpose.

It does not require a PhD to understand that circulars alone do not stop illegal activity. What is required is sustained oversight, proper audits, transparent procurement, protection for complainants, and visible consequences for those who abuse their positions. Without these, ministerial announcements remain academic exercises with little bearing on reality.

Out of touch, out of depth

The tragedy is not merely that nothing is being done. It is that statements are issued as if the problem barely exists.

When a Minister publicly declares that no money is being collected at school level, while parents continue to pay coerced, disguised, and unprotected, it exposes a clear disconnect from ground reality.

People did not vote for this Government to continue what previous governments did. They voted to end corruption. If the Government lacks the capacity to dismantle entrenched systems, that in itself is a serious failure. To deny or trivialise the problem through ill-informed public statements is worse—it insults the very parents who carry the burden.

Sri Lankan parents are not asking for rhetoric. They are asking for leadership that understands how the system actually works, and has the courage to confront it.

(A parent who wishes to remain anonymous due to obvious reasons)