Trade union blames Sri Lanka's Education Ministry for losses of millions to the sector

Aug 02, Colombo: A trade union affiliated to Sri Lanka's education sector says that irresponsible actions of the Education Ministry has resulted in losses amounting to hundreds of millions to the education sector.
The Ceylon Teacher Services Union (CTSU) says that an Education Ministry programme to provide computer equipment to 1,000 schools following the signing of a Rs. 572 million agreement has suddenly been scrapped.
CTSU General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe said the sudden scrapping of the programme has resulted in the education sector incurring a loss of over Rs. 500 million.
According to Jayasinghe, Education Ministry officials have been extremely irresponsible for not dealing with a reputed retailer to purchase computers for schools.
He explained that thousands of students are left without a way to pursue their IT studies, and a thousand schools had been supplied with substandard or broken computers due to the negligence of the Education Ministry.
The CTSU pointed out that in 2010, the Education Ministry had signed two agreements with Business Solutions Systems (Pvt) Ltd., a company based in Nugegoda and the company together with the ministry was working on a project to provide 5,000 computers to 1,000 schools island wide.
However, the company had provided substandard equipment and the programme has now come to a standstill.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/kuaz2ow