Extract in addition to land deed for year 1 interview?

My daughter, Hafsa Shiraz, on behalf of her son, Hazim, sent applications for year 1 admission to five government schools as per the requirement of the Government. The cost of photocopies was prohibitive as she has to send copies of the Title Deed, NIC and extract of electoral register of her and her husband, child’s BC, water and electricity bills for five years, Municipal Annual Rates, Grama Sevaka certificate and an affidavit certified by a JP.

Now she is receiving letters from the schools requesting the parents to bring the child for the interview for the year 1 admission. She has up to now received the response from three of the schools and all these schools have requested her to bring another set of the above documents whilst having the initial documents previously sent to them in their possession. Even a new affidavit certified by a JP has to be submitted again.  One of the schools also wanted to print out a Google map (to get an indication of the number of schools the applicant has access to from his/her residence). Even supporting documents (extract/path-thiru) from the land registration department in respect of the deed have also to be submitted. Why request for an extract when the applicant can present the original deed?

In addition to the waste of stationery, valuable time is also wasted because one of the leading government schools in Colombo conducted the interview at 4 p.m. after requesting the applicant to be present by 1 p.m.! Shouldn’t the school have given staggered times of appointments for the interview?

I really don’t know why on earth the schools are requesting for an extra set of documents when there is a paper crisis and both the country and the people are all bankrupt. Over to the Minister of Education Susil Premjayanth for his response.

Mohamed Zahran

Colombo