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Govt wants classes as normal but unions dig in heels
View(s):Despite increased COVID-19 cases and recent adverse weather conditions including Cyclone Buveri lashing the north and east last week, causing school closures, the government insists that schools remain open.
The Ministry of Education said average student attendance countrywide was 50-52 per cent, with attendance higher in rural areas than in urban centres, according to Additional Secretary for Schools Affairs L.W.D. Dharmasena.
Attendance was lowest in the Southern Province, dropping from 37 per cent on Monday to 34 per cent on Thursday, he said.
The Sabragamuwa and Central provinces recorded 50 per cent and 42 per cent respectively.
Against all odds, classrooms were filling up in the Northern and Eastern provinces despite being buffeted by the Cyclone Buveri, which drove thousands to seek shelter. The hard-hit Northern Province recorded 69 per cent attendance and the Eastern Province 51 per cent.
The Uva province recorded the highest attendance at around 70 per cent.
Last week, provincial education authorities were forced to close schools in the Northern and Eastern provinces due to inclement weather.
Schools in the north closed for two days, from December 3-4, and in the Eastern Province from December 2-4.
The COVID menace saw schools closed in other provinces: 27 in the Southern Province, two in Sabaragamuwa, 50 in the Central Province and 36 in the cyclone-hit Eastern Province.
The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) disputed the ministry’s statistics, claiming a much lower figure of 5 per cent school attendance.
CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said COVID-19 cases were being identified daily among teachers, students’ families and in the neighbourhood, prompting parents to keep their children away from school.
He also said teachers in primary classes in the plantation sector were required to report to work daily despite no classes being held for Grades 1-5.
In the Hatton zone, these teachers were being used to visit students’ homes, encouraging parents to send their children back to school.
School closures have led to complaints that provinces are making ad hoc decisions. Mr. Stalin said there had been no coordination with the line ministry, and provinces were taking unilateral decisions on opening schools.
Mr. Dharmasena said provinces had been given powers to decide on school closures and reopenings. The provincial director of health, provincial education ministry officials, the police and the governor were allowed to make decisions, he said.
Trade unions representing teachers and principals have requested the government to hold the GCE Ordinary Level exams in early January 2021 as scheduled after being previously postponed from the end of this year due to the second wave of coronavirus, but the government last week changed the date to March 1-11 next year on grounds the closures had prevented students from completing subject syllabuses.
School vacation is due to commence on December 23.
