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President promises education of the heart
View(s):President Maithripala Sirisena pledged on Friday that he and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would soon implement a comprehensive plan to reform the whole education process and structure so that there would be education not only of the mind but more so of the heart.
Addressing a special school assembly to mark the 150th jubilee of St. Benedict’s College, President Sirisena revealed that as a child in a poor farmer family in Polonnaruwa he had often walked up to five kilometres to school. Thus he had a deep experience and commitment to develop thousands of regional or rural schools because education was vital for all to become good and intelligent citizens who would work hard for the common good of all.
The President’s pledge came in response to an appeal made fervently and personally to him by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith who also spoke at the 150th jubilee assembly.
The Cardinal recalled that in his school days, he also walked half a kilometre to school twice or sometimes four times a day. This was good exercise for the body and mind while those were the days when the children also had plenty of time to play and communicate with their parents or other family members.
The Cardinal lamented that the wrong attitude to modern technological development had led to a situation where most children did not walk but were taken to and from school in vans. After school closed, for most children it was a case of going from tuition class to tuition class. The teaching profession had also, to a large extent, lost its vocational dimension with most teachers today not completing the syllabus in school but forcing children to come for tuition classes, sometimes till late at night.
He said that as a result, millions of children were losing their childhood and this led to an imbalance in their growth.
The Cardinal said that during the past four decades education had also become far too competitive and exam-oriented with children being forced either by their families or parents to go for eight distinctions at O/Levels or four at the A/Levels. Though there were values in examinations, the overrating of this aspect had produced negative results with children not learning how to walk like human beings.
The Cardinal appealed to the President to act urgently and immediately to change this whole education process and structure to educate not only the mind but the heart also. He said he was confident the President would do this and revealed that Pope Francis – who is widely respected worldwide for his simple and humble servant leadership – had said he was taking an example from the leadership qualities of
President Sirisena.
President Sirisena also presided at a ceremony to issue a special stamp to mark the 150th jubilee of St. Benedict’s and took part in a tree-planting campaign.
The jubilee celebrations were multi-cultural and multi-religious with a Sinhala music and dance being combined with Tamil Baratha Natyam. (See picture on Page 1 of the Education Times)