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President appoints committee to stay abreast of global educational trends
View(s):A committee was appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa recently to look into formulating a new policy to suit the present and future needs of the country in keeping with global educational trends.
The committee will look into new educational reforms and implement them within the local education system to improve its quality, and strive for better student employability.
Commenting on this, Higher Education Ministry Secretary, Dr Sunil Jayantha Nawaratne said that, this will help empower graduates in a knowledge oriented economy. “The committee is to prepare a National Policy Framework to achieve a better education system. This policy will look into every aspect of this area, while considering local and international demand for our human resources. At the same time, we will observe the standards acceptable to the world market, and see how we could achieve those,” Dr Nawaratne said.
He explained that, they hope to improve the curriculum, teaching/learning methods and evaluation. “To this, changes will be introduced into the primary, secondary and tertiary educational levels, as well as university and vocational training programmes.
“Through this, we hope to look at the investment programme, not just public, but also private partnerships. Finally, our target is to produce globally employable graduates from world class universities. For this, we have to improve all aspects of our education system, along with the quality of our teachers and professors,” he said.
Dr Nawaratne said that, in the current system, most look only into the theoretical aspects, but lack practical knowledge. “We hope to improve the graduate’s skills, attitude and mindset. We will look at how they perceive the world and guide them build positive values of life. Most of these aspects are missing in our graduates and the knowledge is outdated. We have to ensure that they are able to progress well in the global market and through this new committee, new and restructured education system will be introduced.” The committee chaired by Human Resources Minister D.E.W. Gunasekara, will also comprise Environment and Renewable Energy Minister Susil Premajayantha, Technology and Research Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka, Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake, Child Development and Women’s Affairs Minister Tissa Karaliyadda, Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena, Youth Affairs and Skills Development Minister Dullas Alahapperuma and Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage.
- Aanya Wipulasena
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