News
Lucky few start school tomorrow while others wait again
A handful of grades start school tomorrow, but many students in the populous Western Province continue to be deprived of classroom learning for more than a year.
Following a green light from the COVID health authorities, the education ministry last week set March 15 as reopening day for grades 5, 11 and 13 in the province. These are students who will be sitting for national exams this year.
A classroom all set for students
The ministry plans to reopen schools for all students from April 19. This will include Grade 1 students in Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara.
Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin said grade 5, 11 and 13 students enjoyed schooling for a couple of months at least in the past 12 months before the pandemic forced the government to close all schools again, on March 13 last year.
Students in other classes in the province have not sighted school for more than a year, the CTU said.
This year again around 907 schools were opened on January 11 only for Grade 11 classes due to a decision to conduct the Ordinary Level exams in March.
The rest of the grades in schools in the Western Province remained closed.
“And now, again, a decision has been taken to allow only a few grades to function,” Mr. Stalin said. “This is discriminatory to other students.”
He said online classes conducted for students kept out of school had been ineffective.
Mr. Stalin suggested that staggered classes be held for the rest of the grades as was done last year from August to December 2020 for the other provinces, saying this would mentally prepare students to start afresh in the next academic term.
“After a year of not schooling it would be difficult to get them on track immediately and the one month of schooling up to April 9 will prepare them,” he said. First term school holidays will be for a week, from April 9-19.
Education ministry Secretary Professor Kapila Perera said schools are being cleaned up in preparation for reopening, with police, school authorities and parents helping.
The education ministry has stressed the importance of following all COVID health protocols in classrooms. The wearing of masks, hand-washing and temperature checks will continue. The government has announced special funding allocations through the health ministry for this purpose.
A classroom being sprayed before students arrive (file pix)
The ministry has requested COVID-19 immunisation for school administrators, teachers, principals and students. A programme to vaccinate school van drivers is also on the cards.