Govt. pledges to take education and higher education to new heights with 2021 Budget Proposals
View(s):The Government’s year 2021 Budget Proposals include plans to allocate funds to the education and higher education sectors. These plans include: introducing education reforms to improving distance learning facilities, developing rural school playgrounds, strengthening vocational training and setting up non-resident city universities.
“Education reforms including the expansion of the syllabi in line with the contemporary requirements, regulation of teacher education and training, and examination procedures are planned to be regulated under a national education policy,” said Prime Minister MahindaRajapaksa, while presenting the 2021 Appropriation Bill to Parliament this week.
He said as the first step in educational reforms, there was a requirement to formalise the learning methodologies within schools, and the provision of internet facilities to schools needed to be expanded.
“To minimise the difficulties faced by students in rural and non-national schools due to shortage of teachers, and ensure the provision of continuous school education in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ‘Guru Gedara’ education channel should be made available to all students by providing television sets to schools in difficult areas. It was proposed to allocate Rs. 3,000 million for this purpose,” the Prime Minister said.
He also said the e-Thaksalawa learning portal needed to be updated and provincial IT education centres needed to be strengthened.
Meanwhile, an allocation of Rs. 3, 000 million would be made to provide the required teachers and basic facilities to rural schools. The 1,000 national school development programmewould also be implemented at divisional secretariat level. The Government also planned to increase the current annual intake of 100,000 students to state-run vocational education institutes up to 200,000 and combine vocational education with entrepreneurship, equipping students with knowledge and skills including Information Technology and English.
Strengthening the island-wide network of new technological and technical universities by modernising technical colleges and converting these institutes into degree awarding entities in parallel to the expansion of opportunities for university education were also a part of the State’s plan to strengthen vocational education in the country.
It was also proposed to provide the instructors and staff of vocational education institutes with incentives based on their performance and to provide a monthly bursary of Rs. 4,000 for students in the vocational education system. The Government also proposed to train more instructors, purchase new technical equipment and maintain and modernise existing buildings. As additional financing of Rs. 3,000 million was proposed to be allocated for these purposes. A tax holiday was proposed for private sector institutions that provide vocational training, and this would soon come under one standardised Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) concept on their income for a period of five years if those institutions enhance their student intake at least up to 50,000 students.
“I propose to provide loans of Rs. 500,000 at an interest rate of four percent as start-up capital to support young men and women who start their own businesses after successfully completing their vocational education,” the Prime Minister said.
He said President GotabayaRajapaksa had already taken the initiative to establish a new university catering to ports and aviation technology engineering subjects by 2023 in Deniyaya in the Matara district.
In a bid to expand the professional education of nursing and nursing services, the Prime Minister proposed to upgrade nursing schools to degree awarding institutions.
The Foreign Employment Bureau was to make arrangements to facilitate the youth who possess specialised skills in sectors like tourism, health, construction, agriculture and animal husbandry to seek foreign employment.
The Government also planned to allocate provisions to expand educational opportunities in national universities in disciplines such as medicine, engineering, technology, law, commerce and business management.
“I propose to set up a non-resident city university in easch district, targeting specific areas of high demand for employment opportunities. As a start, I propose to convert existing vocational education institutes or other government owned buildings and infrastructure facilities in the Kalutara, Ampara, Puttalam and NuwaraEliya districts. I propose to allocate Rs. 1,000 million for this purpose,” The Prime Minister said.
Premier Rajapaksa proposed to develop ten sports schools with synthetic race tracts to attract Sri Lankan youth to sports and extra-curricular activities through sports schools and youth community organisations associated with cultural centres.
He also proposed an additional allocation of Rs. 3,000 million to develop rural school playgrounds and rural sports societies, encourage school children to engage in sports, improve regional sports activities, promote volleyball and to implement development activities to encourage women’s participation in sports. (NF)