Despite an Education Ministry order, to schools island-wide, that except for the facilities fees, no other fees are to be charged from parents to admit their children to Grade I, various types of levies are being made in the name of facilities fees, the JVP charged yesterday.

JVP Colombo District Parliamentarian Sunil Handunetti said that a parent had to pay Rs 36,500 recently to admit his child to Grade I in a national school in Colombo. The amount, according to the MP, comprised Rs 5,000 for the development of a Basket Ball Court, Rs 25,000 for the development of the Badminton Court and Rs 6,500 for the development of the sports complex. However, after receiving all these payments the school refused to admit the child and the parent was desperately trying to get back his money but the school had refused to return it.

Handunnetti said that charges differ from school to school and even students seeking admission to AL classes have been called upon to part with large sums of money. He said, though the Education Ministry permits only facilities fees and boasts about free education the charging of exorbitant amounts continues.

Education Minister Susil Premjayanth when contacted by The Island denied the JVP charges. "The charges paid by parents are endorsed by the school development boards and not by the school administration or the principals. When parents become members of the school development board or past pupils’ association, they could be charged an amount for development activities. Since the Ministry is not allocating funds for development of sports it has to be collected from the students," Premjayanth said.

He said that the school development boards or past pupils’ associations cannot admit children to schools. The board does not charge any money for admitting children. The Minister called upon any victimized parent to call over on any Wednesday and lodge a complaint.