New national policy for education in the works: Minister
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Education Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at the Consultative Committee on Education held in Parliament recently.
The need to formulate a proper system to fill the vacancies of principals in schools was discussed at the Consultative Committee on Education held in Parliament recently.
Education Minister Dinesh Gunawardena also told the meeting that a new national policy for education is being formulated.
While claiming that resolving the current teacher salary anomaly is a serious problem, State Minister Susil Premajayantha also said the process of recruiting teachers should also be streamlined.
The State Minister also said a programme is underway to transform the teacher training National Colleges of Education into universities.
Addressing the committee through online technology, Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara said the official languages are in a state of decline. He also drew the attention of the committee to the fact that English is becoming the language of education in the country at present.
It was revealed at the Consultative Committee on Education that the report of the technical committee for the inclusion of Law in Sri Lanka as a subject in the school syllabus will be submitted to the relevant subcommittee within two weeks.
It was also suggested that Law should be included not as a separate subject but as part of the subject of Civic education. Parliamentarian HariniAmarasuriya, said it is important to include children’s rights in this as well. She pointed out that the relationship between law and society should also be reflected in the subject.
It was also discussed at this committee meeting that a proper programme should be implemented to make permanent the graduate trainees attached to schools. MPs brought to the notice of the committee that out of 60,000 graduates, 18,000 are currently attached to schools and the methodology proposed to make permanent them is problematic. State Minister JayanthaSamaraweera stated that some of the graduates who are currently attached to schools do not like this methodology.
Parliamentarian ChandimaWeerakkodyalso pointed out the need to implement a proper programme to protect the dignity of teachers.
Further discussions were held at the Committee on the School Selection Programme for the project to establish 1000 national schools. The Committee Chairman told Education Secretary Kapila Perera to take measures and explain the matter to the committee.