The present government has been accused of misusing public tax money by abandoning a project started by the previous government for school development.
“Stopping or abandoning existing projects is a misuse of public funds unless governments focus on their own projects during change,” alleges one of the island’s leading teachers’ unions.
As a major component of school development, the previous government had launched a project called ‘Nearest School, Best School’.
According to the Ceylon Teachers Union, the previous government had allocated Rs. 64,950 million for this project.
According to Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers’ Union, it was planned to implement 18,000 projects, including the construction of 9063 school buildings, for a period of 4 years from 2016 to 2020.
According to a statement issued by the association on Thursday, May 20, the project has been abruptly abandoned with the coming to power of the present government and all activities including the construction of more than 700 schools have been halted.
The office of the Ministry of Education has also been closed due to the implementation of this project, the senior trade union leader said.
According to him, 40% of the money for this project has been released to the Provincial Councils in 2016.
The Ceylon Teachers Union has also lodged a complaint with the Bribery and Corruption Commission regarding some of the fraudulent activities that took place during this project.