Sweeping changes in education system
The National education system in the country will undergo a complete overhaul for the first time since independence when the new Education Bill is passed in parliament by December and implemented from next year, Education Minister Bandula Gunawardana said yesterday. “This is the first time the education system is being reviewed with far reaching reforms based on the proposals submitted by the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Education Reforms (PSSCER) and covering all aspects of national education,” he said.
The minister said the school curriculum, examinations, teachers hand book, examination assessments, grading of schools, teacher recruitment, transfers and promotions, teacher training, pirivena education, private and international schools, and among others the entrance to grade one, five, and twelve.
He said the PSSCR would wind up its public sittings on September 14 having met on 24 occasions from January this year. It had obtained the views and suggestions of religious leaders, all political parties represented in parliament including the United National Party (UNP), the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Tamil and Muslim political parties, trade unions, teachers and principals’ organizations, professionals, university professors and professionals of other sectors, NGOs and representatives of private and international schools.
The minister said the Committee recorded evidence from some 1,000 people who represented a cross section of the society.
The committee reviewed the transformation which the national education system underwent since independence and amendments and reforms introduced by various governments.
“I don’t think there will be any hiccups to get the new Education Act through parliament as all political parties have agreed on the reforms. I firmly believe that the new Education Act will resolve nearly all the woes in the education sector,” the minister said.
Courtesy: DM Online
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PSCCR committee had met about 24 times in public sittings with a cross section of the population including professionals, political parties and religious leaders. But, according to the above report, it had not met with the most important section of the public at all. And that is the PARENTS and the CHILDREN. Is it that PSCCR does not consider their views important too?
What appals me most is the TUTION MANIA. Teachers deliberately fail to teach the children well, according to the syllabus, but force the parents to send their children to the tution classes, run by the very same teachers, at exhorbitant fees. Poor parents can hardly afford to send their children to tution classes. At the end of the day the children are also too tired to attend tution classes held in the evenings. They are mentally and physically too exhausted to attend such classes. Surely, children need an all-round education, which means they need time to play games and take part in sports and outdoor activities with other children, and perhaps with their parents/relatives. This way they not only develop mentally but also physically, and learn to interact well in society. “A healthy mind in a healthy body”. ‘Mens sanis in corpore sano’.
I urgently request the Minister of Education to curtail drastically this TUTION MANIA by law and enforce the teachers to teach children well, so that tution becomes unncessary for most children.
When I was a teacher at St Peter’s College, Bambalpitiya years ago, I gave free tution to backward children only from slums and poor tenements, during Saturdays and Sundays. I visited them at home and taught them 1-1. Alas there are no such teachers who are social minded! Most are too greedy to amass wealth.
Three things:
1. Yes, tuition mania! We have to stop this. Tuition robs the child hood from children!
2. Any reform that will produce employees for the available job market!
3. Harmonize School curricular (Private/Int and Govt Schools.
Well put NIcholas. THe Irony if it all is that the same teachers who are paid to teach these students to pass the exam in the first instance are not doing their job for the money they are paid. Unfortunately the teacers in the presnt days don’t have the same ethics as the ones who taught you & me when we were young. We are so lucky to have such dedicated teachers who took pride and personal responsibilty in their.It is a sign of the times. Money talks. It will only get harder for the next generation if we do not do something about it now.
No debate that tution MUST be stopped at any cost & we remember we had free classes by the same school teaches in after school, abt 25yrs ago.
Tution makes not only education problems but also SOCIAL PROBLEMS..
Thank you Sisira, Amden and Amarakoon for your support. I hope more people will involve the media on this issue and not leave it to the politicians to sort it out.
The Education Minister in his days as a teacher used to hold large tution classes to teach Economics. He must have made a nice pile of money! I doubt very much he will put an end to this TUTION MANIA. As Amarakoon said it robs the children of their childhood, since they have little play time. Play time is important to children in their formative years. It is also an essential part of education, since education does not merely mean rote learning from books.
I was fortunate to be educated at St Joseph’s College, Colombo. We had good, dedicated teachers. Tution was never heard of. I gained admission to Colombo University to gain my BSc Hons in Physical Science. Alas, education today has become corrupted due to this Tution Mania and greed for money by the teachers! Who will stop this rot?
People of This world is on the way to destruction by extreme irritating of each other. No one can stop it but many people are making head way to boost the same.
In fact there are a lot of issues that can be and should be sorted out by MR’s ministers and citizens of Sri Lanka. The honourable MR has plenty to think of and to handle. He has given all Sri Lankans the greatest gift of all in ending the war. Now it is time to take the country forward and not to gather personal wealth. Unfortunately our present generation of politicians no matter what party they are from has only one goal. That is to make enough money for the next few genarations to come without doing any good for the country in the prcess.This trend will ruin our country sooner if not later.
Nicholas,
The “want more money” ailment is prevalent in Sri Lankan society because of the failure of the Voharadhipathi’s Government and all previous governments starting 1983 to deliver jobs and/or legitimate means of survival of society.
Corruption is rampant; it starts from the top with valuable land including the Galle Face Green and attrative scenic areas being sold off to create holiday spots for members of the decadent western society who have corrupted the morals of our youth.
My dear Julian. There is no need for the western society to corrupt our people.Sri lankans are very smart in every way and will find a way to get make money out of any situation. So lets not point the finger at the whole world when we can corrupt the rest of the world given the chance. I am a proud Sinhalese but I don’t live in a dream world. AS for the “want more money ailment” I agree with you that this culture was brought about because of the actions of both past and present governments.
Do you know that land is being sold to chinese in Austarlia as well. The good thing about land is they can not take it away. They can develop the land spending their money and we will get more tourist coming in which will give all other related buisnesses more customers which means more money. There is always a price to pay for development and we do not have all the big bucks required to biuld the luxury facilties that are required to entice more tourists to Sri Lanka. It’s just pure and simple common sence.