WHAT HAS HAPPENNED - AND WHAT IS CONTINUING TO HAPPEN - AT ROYAL?

 

Professor Susirith Mendis is a top medical educator in the Island. He is a past Vice Chancellor of University of Ruhuna. To us, he has spoken on behalf of silent millions and has clearly “repaid the debts he owed”. We would particularly like to highlight the following:

Do you still want to argue on points that have no value and just for the sake of arguments, or do you want the name Royal to shine bright even more in the future?

On 26 Feb 2026, at 11:09 PM, Susirith Mendis <sus*******@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Dissa,

I am herewith sending you the full text of my fb post. I hope you like it.

Susirith

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WHAT HAS HAPPENNED - AND WHAT IS CONTINUING TO HAPPEN - AT ROYAL?

I entered Royal Primary School (RPS) in January 1957. I passed the 'All-Island Test' in 1962 and entered Form l of Royal College in 1963 and left in 1971 to enter the Medical Faculty, Colombo.

I have not known any other school. I have "lived" in Royal for 14 continuous years. The best yeas of my youth was spent there.

Hence, l feel that l have both a moral and ethical obligation as well as a Right to state what l have stated below:

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This is a subject that l thought l will never have to write about. But corruption has eaten not only into the 'body politic' but all aspects of our society.

Whether it is the state bureaucracy and the public sector, the 'leading lights' of the private corporate sector, the university administration and academia and the public and private "international schools", corruption has eaten into the very core of institutions and governing systems. Cleaning up society, grandiose promises of 'system-change' are just empty slogans of election time. The 'Labours of even a mighty Hercules' will not be able to clean these 'Augean Stables'.

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WHITHER ROYAL?

I have extracted some information from articles previously available in the public domain.

There was a time when the word "Royalist" carried so much respect. Royal College was the Gold Standard and people looked up to the hoary traditions that molded every Royalist because they were 'generslly cobsidered gentlemen' armed with a signigicant set of virtues

Does RC hold the same position today? Are the Royalists superior anymore?

Are you proud to say you are a Royalist today? Most likely, yes. But looking at the current trajectory, will your children and the generations to come say the same? Or are we heading toward a future where they will feel a sense of hesitation, or even shame, to mention they attended Royal?

The most alarming sign of a school in decline isn't just the peeling paint. It is the loss of faith from its own community. Once upon a time RC was the chosen school for generations. We are seeing a shift that was once unthinkable:

The Mid-Way Exit: Dedicated Royalists are now making the painful decision to pull their children out halfway through their education, moving them to other institutions to save their academic future.

The Vanishing Demand: There was a time when entering Royal was the ultimate challenge. Today, there are unfilled vacancies under the OBA category. This is an extremely signiicant if true. It seems that almost anyone who applies under the OBA cstegory, now gets in, signaling a massive drop in the perceived value of a seat at this "once glorious" school. Will future Royalist be able to "lustily" sing the college anthem ....... partivularly the opening phrase - "School where are fathers lead the way before us........" ?

The Demographic Shift: The elite of Colombo 7 and the immediate suburbs, the traditional backbone of the school are no longer considering Royal for their children. The "cutoff point" that once ended at Havelock Town has stretched as far as Maharagama under the chief occupant category. The traditional stakeholders are quietly walking away.

The Breakdown of Basics

How can a school claim "prestige" when it fails at the most fundamental level?

A Lack of Infrastructure: According to the Head of Grade 10, there is a shortage of 100 chairs and 80 desks for the 660 students in that section alone. Even when rural schools are coming out of this situation, young royalists have to carry chairs to classrooms to attend bucket subjects. How can you improve pedagogy if too many students do not have a place to sit or a desk to write on?

Stagnant Education: In Grade 6, the German language is taught only once every two weeks for a single period. How is It possible to learn a language under such neglect.

Hazardous Conditions: Classrooms are plagued by broken floors, thick dust, and life threatening short term fixes, that pose a literal threat to the lives of the students.

Misplaced Priorities and Financial Shadows:

The School Development Society (SDS) exists to fix these very issues, yet the priorities seem dangerously skewed.

The 100-Million-Rupee Question: The SDS is reportedly focused on portfolio management and growing a fixed deposit exceeding 100 million rupees (even writing off millions of rupees with vague excuses according to the published audited accounts). Why is money sitting in a bank while students lack chairs and desks?

The Solar Distraction: While basic needs go unmet, the administration is busy with solar projects. Innovation is a luxury that should only be pursued once the basic purpose of education and safety is fulfilled.

The Audit Scandal: Transparency is the hallmark of any great institution. Yet, the 2024 Audited Accounts were published, then scrubbed, and republished without the Auditor’s Statement. This followed a "Disclaimer of Opinion" a polite way of the auditor saying the accounts were unreliable. Furthermore, the 2023 full report remains hidden, intentionally omitting the auditor's statement page.

The Decision or the Inaction

A school does not collapse overnight; it erodes through the silence of those who should care the most. If this situation continues, the "Royalist" brand will become a shadow of its former self.

Do you still want to argue on points that have no value and just for the sake of arguments, or do you want the name Royal to shine bright even more in the future?

It is time for every Royalist to decide: Will you support this cleansing movement to restore the standards of your school, or will you wait until the name "Royal" is something the next generation prefers not to mention at all?

The future of the legacy is no longer guaranteed. Your action or your silence will decide what happens next.

Please share this message with every Royalist living around the globe.

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I saw this 'Letter to the Editor' published in the 'Daily FT' of 17th February 2026. I reproduce it in full:

(By a parent who wishes to remain anonymous due to obvious reasons)

Out of touch, out of depth Minister: How schools teach Minister Amarasuriya the art of collecting money.

The recent assertion by Prime Minister and Minister of Education Harini Amarasuriya that Government schools are prohibited from collecting money beyond annual facilities fees and that any such collections must “stop immediately”, if they exist, may sound principled. To parents who live within the system, however, it sounds painfully detached from reality.

I write as a parent of a student at Royal College Colombo, and what I describe here is based on direct experience. From conversations with parents in other leading schools in Colombo, it is clear that Royal is not an exception; it is merely a prominent example of a wider and deeply entrenched problem.

Highest facility fees, no accountability and lack of transparency

Royal College charges some of the highest annual facilities fees among Government schools. Yet, despite this, parents are largely in the dark as to how that money is actually used. Parents had to repeatedly pressure the Principal to release the 2024/25 annual accounts, which were disclosed only after sustained insistence. The accompanying audit report was scathing, raising serious questions about financial governance. Some say that proper records were often not maintained, making meaningful auditing difficult.

The School Development Society (SDS) - which operates under the Ministry and the school administration has, in practice, become deeply compromised. No responsible official was able to clearly explain how the facilities fees collected over the past year were spent or how those funds benefited students. Despite widespread awareness that many collections are illegal, money continues to be extracted from parents throughout the year under various labels. No SDS office bearer has been held accountable, a failure that ultimately falls within the Minister’s own department.

How the system bypasses the law

Illegal money collection does not happen crudely; it happens very methodically.

Most teachers are not involved in these malpractices. They work hard and do their best for the children, and this criticism is not directed at them. The problem lies with a small but entrenched group, comprising certain administrators and long established staff who dominate decision making and suppress internal dissent.

Funds are rarely collected directly by those involved. Instead, selected parents aligned with the administration act as intermediaries, collecting money into personal bank accounts or in physical cash, sometimes even at school gates. Purchases are then channelled to preferred suppliers, often at inflated prices and questionable quality, without transparent procurement processes, competitive quotations, or accountability.

When a parent raises an objection, the response is predictable. Administrators hurriedly collect letters from other parents stating that the payments were made “voluntarily”. A paper trail is artificially created, and the illegality is cosmetically erased.

This is not ignorance of the law. It is deliberate circumvention.

Why parents stay silent

Most parents remain silent not because they approve, but because they fear consequences. There is a widely held belief, supported by experience, that children may be penalised if their parents speak out. In such an environment, silence becomes a survival strategy.

Complaints to authorities, whether the Ministry of Education, CIABOC, RTI, or the Human Rights Commission, rarely result in timely or meaningful action. Files stagnate. Investigations drag on or quietly die. Incompetence, indifference, and at times corruption within Government departments ensure that even well documented complaints go nowhere. Those running school level rackets understand this reality very well.

Circulars do not dismantle corruption

Against this backdrop, the Minister’s call for schools to simply “stop collecting money” is not merely ineffective; it is insulting to parents who endure these practices in silence.

Everyone inside the system already knows that such collections are illegal. The problem has never been awareness. The problem is the lack of enforcement.

The administrative mafias operating in elite Government schools are far too sophisticated to be deterred by circulars. They know there is no effective monitoring, no protection for whistleblowers, and no real punishment for violations. Issuing statements without ensuring enforcement serves no purpose.

It does not require a PhD to understand that circulars alone do not stop illegal activity. What is required is sustained oversight, proper audits, transparent procurement, protection for complainants, and visible consequences for those who abuse their positions. Without these, ministerial announcements remain academic exercises with little bearing on reality.

Out of touch, out of depth

The tragedy is not merely that nothing is being done. It is that statements are issued as if the problem barely exists.

When a Minister publicly declares that no money is being collected at school level, while parents continue to pay coerced, disguised, and unprotected, it exposes a clear disconnect from ground reality.

People did not vote for this Government to continue what previous governments did. They voted to end corruption. If the Government lacks the capacity to dismantle entrenched systems, that in itself is a serious failure. To deny or trivialise the problem through ill-informed public statements is worse—it insults the very parents who carry the burden.

Sri Lankan parents are not asking for rhetoric. They are asking for leadership that understands how the system actually works, and has the courage to confront it.

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NEED I SAY MORE?

TO WHOM SHOULD WE SAY "TRUE TO OUR WATCHWORD..... DISCE AUT DISCEDE" ?

I USED TO THINK IT WAS MEANT FOR NON-DILIGENT STUDENTS. BUT NOW I THINK IT SHOULD EQUALLY APPLY TO THE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION, TEACHERS, THE SDS AND ALL THOSE OLD BOYS WHO ARE AIDING AND ABETTING CORRUPTION AT ROYAL COLLEGE.

Professor Susirith Mendis