The ruling National People’s Power (NPP) government has rejected calls for a reduction of the VAT on educational equipment to benefit all students, and instead decided only to raise the number of beneficiaries of state’s financial assistance to purchase such equipment.
The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) objected to the decision to grant the Rs. 6,000 allowance from January only for ‘Aswesuma’ recipients, saying that it will deny the benefit for the needy students.
Among the 4.3 million schoolchildren, there are only a few ‘Aswesuma’ beneficiary families, noted the CTU.
The cabinet that met on 06 January and chaired by president Anura Kumara Dissanayake approved extending the allowance to children of other needy families as well.
They include children who are parentless or either parent having disabilities and those who live in children’s homes.
As the education minister, prime minister Harini Amarasuriya informed parliament about the absence of a correct database to identify such children.
Ministers approved granting the allowance by voucher to ‘Aswesuma’ non-beneficiary students of 6,576 schools with less than 300 students, children who attend school from children’s development centres and all Piriven students.
CTU secretary Joseph Stalin stressed to the government last month that removing the taxes on school equipment would benefit university students as well.
Meanwhile, university students staged a protest to demand the NPP fulfilled its election promise to remove the VAT from all school equipment.
On 08 January, the Inter University Students’ Federation gathered in front of Colombo Fort railway station, also asking that the 2025 budget made a six percent allocation for education.
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