Sri Lankan State School Admissions: A Corrupt Practice That Refuses to Die—and the Old Boys’ Network as a Colonial Curse
Seventy-six years after independence, Sri Lanka continues to wrestle with a paradox that exposes the unfinished business of decolonisation. While the country boasts one of South Asia’s highest literacy rates and proudly advertises free education as a cornerstone of social mobility, the state school admission system remains stubbornly feudal, opaque, and deeply corrupted.
At the heart of this contradiction lies a colonial inheritance that Sri Lanka has never fully dismantled: education as privilege rather than right, governed not by merit or fairness, but by networks of power—wealth, religion, political patronage, and old boys’ associations.
The result is a system that looks transparent on paper, but functions as an informal marketplace in practice.
A Colonial System That Never Ended
Under British colonial rule, access to elite schools was determined by class, proximity to power, and religious affiliation. Education was not designed to uplift the masses but to create a loyal administrative elite. School admission was an exercise in social reproduction.
Independence promised change. Free education promised equality. Yet, decades later, the same logic still governs the most sought-after state schools.
Who gets in is still influenced by:
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Who your parents know
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Which school your father attended
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Which religious institution sponsors you
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Which politician writes a letter
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Which “school development fund” is quietly paid
Colonial governance ended. Colonial gatekeeping did not.
Audit Findings: The Tip of the Iceberg
Officially, Sri Lanka has a regulated admissions policy based on catchment areas, distance, and transparent criteria. Unofficially, Education Ministry audits have repeatedly uncovered thousands of admissions made in violation of these rules.
These are not minor clerical errors. They involve:
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Admissions granted without proper documentation
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Children admitted outside designated zones
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Files “adjusted” after deadlines
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School Development Funds paid at suspicious times
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Transfers between parents, old boys’ associations, and intermediaries
In some cases, admissions are retrospectively legitimised once the child is already attending school—a fait accompli that no official is willing to reverse.
The policy exists. Enforcement does not.
The Admission Economy: How Money Moves
School admission corruption does not usually involve brown envelopes passed in corridors. It is more sophisticated—and therefore harder to prosecute.
The system operates through:
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“Donations” to school development funds
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Contributions to old boys’ association projects
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Religious institution sponsorships
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Political recommendation letters
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“Special discretion” exercised by principals
This creates plausible deniability. No bribe is recorded. Yet access is clearly bought.
Parents understand the rules intuitively: pay, connect, or lie.
Fake Addresses and Manufactured Proximity
One of the most widespread practices is the use of fake addresses to qualify under distance-based admission criteria.
Families temporarily rent houses near elite schools.
Utility bills are manipulated.
Affidavits are produced.
Local officials are pressured to certify residency.
Everyone knows it happens. Few are punished.
The message is clear: honesty is for those who can afford to lose.
Principals, Power, and Unanswered Questions
Principals occupy extraordinary discretionary power within the current system. They are gatekeepers of opportunity. Yet the financial realities surrounding some of them raise serious ethical questions.
Consider this:
A significant number of principals of top-tier state schools have sent their own children abroad for higher education—often at costs running into tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
This invites an unavoidable public-interest question:
Is this financially plausible on a public servant’s salary alone?
This is not an accusation. It is a governance question—one that demands transparency, asset declarations, and independent oversight.
When admission authority and financial opacity coexist, corruption becomes structural, not incidental.
Old Boys’ Associations: From Support to Control
Old boys’ associations were originally meant to support schools. Today, many function as shadow authorities.
They influence:
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Admissions
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Principal appointments
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Resource allocation
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School culture
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Alumni-only privilege pipelines
In some schools, the old boys’ association wields more power than the school administration itself. Membership becomes an inherited advantage, passed from father to son.
This is not meritocracy. It is aristocracy.
In the private sector, the damage is even clearer. Certain companies openly—or quietly—recruit only from specific schools or regions. This is a form of educational discrimination, yet it remains unregulated and normalised.
If discrimination based on race or religion is illegal, why is discrimination based on school pedigree tolerated?
Religious Schools and the Moral Contradiction
Religious schools, particularly Catholic institutions, occupy a sensitive position in this debate. Many of these schools receive state funding, land grants, and public resources—yet continue to restrict admissions based on religious identity.
This raises both legal and moral contradictions.
From a theological standpoint, the contradiction is stark.
Jesus Christ did not discriminate based on religious identity. Christianity itself emerged among Jewish communities. Exclusionary admission policies contradict the very foundations of Christian teaching.
From a civic standpoint, the contradiction is unacceptable.
If a school is funded by taxpayers, it cannot function as a religious enclave.
Religion should be a subject taught—not a gatekeeping mechanism.
This question extends beyond Catholic schools. Why should any Sri Lankan child be denied quality education because of religion?
Cardinal Power and Institutional Muscle
The politicisation of religious education has also created institutional power centres that resist reform aggressively. Religious leaders increasingly position themselves as defenders of tradition, when in reality they are defending control.
Using schools to project political influence is not spiritual leadership. It is institutional capture.
Education must serve children—not clerical authority.
The Rise of International Schools: A Symptom, Not a Solution
The explosion of international schools across Sri Lanka is often blamed on parental obsession with status. In reality, it is a direct consequence of a broken state admission system.
Parents are not abandoning public education because they hate it. They are fleeing corruption, uncertainty, and humiliation.
When access to a good state school requires:
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Lying
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Paying
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Begging
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Networking
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Political patronage
Those who can afford it exit the system entirely.
This deepens inequality and erodes trust in public institutions.
The Case for Digital, Centralised Admissions
The solution is neither radical nor experimental. It already exists in many developed and middle-income countries.
School admissions must be:
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Digitally applied
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Centrally processed
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Managed by Education Ministry portals
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Based on verified data
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Audited automatically
Parents should be allowed to apply for multiple schools within their catchment area. Algorithms—not principals—should allocate places based on transparent criteria.
Most importantly:
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Principals
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Teachers
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Old boys’ associations
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School development committees
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Politicians
must be completely removed from the admission process.
Schools should educate—not select.
Prosecution, Not Amnesties
Reform without accountability will fail. Past abuses must be investigated.
This includes:
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Fake documentation
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Address fraud
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Unlawful admissions
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Financial irregularities linked to admissions
Amnesty sends the wrong signal. Enforcement resets behaviour.
A Moral, Not Political, Question
This is not a partisan issue. It is not about left or right, government or opposition. It is a moral and ethical question about fairness.
A child’s future should not depend on:
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Their surname
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Their religion
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Their father’s school
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Their parents’ political loyalty
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Their ability to pay bribes
Sri Lanka cannot claim to value education while allowing admission to be auctioned quietly behind closed doors.
Decolonizing Education at Last
True decolonization is not symbolic. It is institutional.
As long as school admissions remain captured by colonial-era hierarchies, Sri Lanka will reproduce inequality generation after generation—no matter how many reforms are announced.
The choice is stark:
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Either education remains a privilege brokered by networks
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Or it becomes a right administered by the state
A digital, centralised admission system is not a technical upgrade.
It is a declaration that Sri Lanka has finally chosen merit over lineage.
Anything less is surrender.