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30 New upgraded National Schools to meet demand: AVK
View(s):Government is to upgrade 30 schools as National Schools, in a bid to avoid the rush to popular schools in the country, Minister of Education Akila Viraj Kariyawasam told the Education Times.
He said, for this purpose, schools with inadequate facilities will be identified and infrastructure improvement made to match the standards of other National schools.
“The objective of this programme is to prevent overcrowding within existing National schools,” he said.
He said that due to the rush for National schools, some parents have failed to find schools for their children. Under this programme it will solve the parents’ problems as well.
The Ministry will ensure that teachers will be of the same quality as in National schools.
“Accordingly, students eligible to enter National schools after the Grade 5 Scholarship exam, will be able to enter these schools,” Minister Kariyawasam said.
He said Royal College, Colombo, has 8,500 students, while DS Senanayake College, Colombo, has 7,500 students. “Some of the schools have exceeded 50 students per classroom.
We want to avoid this situation, as it is far too excessive for a teacher to cope,” he added.
He said the Ministry intends to reduce the number of students per classroom to 35 in the next few years.
“We have decided not to allow schools to put up extra classrooms, in order to meet the demand,” he said.
- Damith Wickremasekara