Investigations are underway into the conduct of the principals of two leading girls’ schools in Colombo following a public dispute that erupted after their annual cricket encounter, with the Education Ministry saying that the probes are aimed at preventing similar incidents in the future.
Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (10), Ministry Secretary Nalaka Kaluwewa said the Ministry had no objection to inter-school tournaments, stressing that such competitions are necessary, but expressed concern over the manner in which some principals had behaved following the match.
“Such tournaments are necessary. The only issue is that, at times, there is behaviour from principals that is not expected of them,” he said.
He further said that there were ample opportunities to resolve any dispute without it becoming a public confrontation.
“There are plenty of competitions between schools. But, principals don’t get down into those competitions themselves. If there was some problem here, it could have been resolved. We, as the Ministry, have no liking for what was done publicly in this manner. We are conducting an investigation into it. One of these schools is coming under a Provincial Council, so there’s a Provincial-level investigation underway as well,” Kaluwewa said.
Kaluwewa also said the investigations were not being conducted with the intention of punishing any party.
“We aren’t trying to punish anyone. But, the aim is to prevent incidents of this nature from happening,” he said.
The comments came after the third “Battle of Golden Queens” between two leading girls’ schools ended in controversy on 8 August, following a closely fought match at the De Zoysa Stadium, Moratuwa, which ended in a two-run victory for one school.
The controversy intensified during the post-match proceedings when the principal of the losing school announced that her school would not participate in the annual cricket encounter again. She raised issues including an earlier dispute over the appointment of umpires and the match referee, the manner in which the toss was conducted, and an umpiring decision during the match.
The players from the losing school also did not come forward to receive their awards during the presentation ceremony.
The principal of the winning school subsequently responded publicly, acknowledging an earlier error involving correspondence relating to match officials, but maintaining that the matter had been discussed and resolved before the match.
She also defended the appointment process, saying that the hosting school traditionally selected the officials and that the other school had been informed of the appointments without raising an objection.