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Of 533 new graduate teachers for WP 289 as Maths tutors
View(s):The Western Provincial Council (WPC) will grant Teacher appointments next month to 533 graduates, of whom a majority will teach Maths.
The October appointments will include 289 graduates for Maths, 176 for Information Technology, 53 for the Arts and 15 for Western Music.
The Provincial Education Ministry said that the selected graduates are undergoing a comprehensive 10-day training programme starting September 25, at teacher training centres, which will mainly be on teaching methods, subject knowledge and child psychology.
Training is organised by the Education Ministry, assisted by the National Institute of Education.
From 2009 to date, 10,748 graduates have been recruited to WP schools. The WP has 1,269 schools, with 34,000 teachers for over 700,000 children.
Meanwhile, the Ministry will also provide special training to 5,000 WP teachers for the forthcoming GCE Ordinary Level exams.
According to Ministry Secretary Daya Senerath, this training to teachers is primarily to increase the pass rate in Maths, Science and English in WP schools.
About 110,000 students, or 42.7% of the total number of students who sat for the exam island-wide, failed in Maths at last year’s GCE O/L exam. Following this dismal failure rate, the Education Ministry appointed a committee of experts to investigate the failure. Among the suggestions made were teacher training in the relevant subjects. (NF)