The Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union has objected to the Government seeking funding from parents to carry out the disinfection of schools. Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe said it was unfair for the Government to request money from parents as these were state-owned schools. “Why should the Government seek money from parents when there is a separate coronavirus fund setup by the Government? The Government should use funds from that fund for this and not from the parents of students,” he said, adding that the union has written to the Ministry of Education expressing its opposition. He pointed out that most of these schools were in rural areas where poor families lived. “As the Government itself had noted on many occasions, some of these schools don’t even have proper bathroom facilities or clean drinking water. How can parents of schoolchildren (in these schools) afford to pay for the cleaning as well?” he questioned. The Ministry of Education denied allegations that it had requested any financial contribution from parents. “I have repeatedly said that we should not burden the people more and that there was no need to seek financial assistance. We have not made any such request from parents,” Ministry of Education Secretary M.H.M. Chithrananda told The Morning. He went on to say that they had only made a request with regard to Shramadana campaigns. “Like in the past, we invited parents to take part in Shramadana campaigns to clean the schools. That was just a request. It is not compulsory. We made such a request as parents had actively taken part in such programmes in the past,” Chithrananda said. By Skandha Gunasekara