Tuition classes may resume from January 25 onwards, discussions currently under way
View(s):Tuition classes may be granted permission to resume physical classes from January 25, 2021. Speaking in Parliament on Friday, Education Minister G.L. Peiris said discussions with the health authorities are underway to consider the possibility of resuming tuition classes and the health guidelines that will need to be followed.
The Minister was replying to a question raised by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa who said there were approximately three-hundred thousand tuition teachers, twenty-five thousand tuition class institutes, and about a million direct and indirect jobs affected by the crippling of the additional classes industry.
The Opposition Leader said the impact of COVID-19 on the education of Sri Lanka’s children was exacerbated by the absence of tuition classes as online education had many footfalls such as the lack of access to devices and the internet.
This question comes days after a statement by the Chief Epidemiologist Sudath Samaraweera at a press conference where he said discussions were taking place to facilitate the move. Mr. Premadasa said the educational setbacks of Sri Lankan students were a concern for the job market in the years to come.
However, Prof. G.L. Peiris said the education system’s return to normalcy must happen incrementally as a global crisis was at hand. He also said steps were being taken to mitigate the negative impacts suffered thus far.
(Tharushi Weerasinghe)