Focus should be on critical nat. education policy issues: EFSL
View(s):The Education Forum of Sri Lanka (EFSL), the organisation for catalysing policy reforms, has urged the Education Ministry to focus on critical national education policy issues and to decentralise decision-making process for schools to the lowest level possible, in keeping with the principle of subsidiarity and the intent of devolution of education to provinces.
Duties and functions of the Education Minister according to the latest gazette or ones before do not entail decision-making regarding schools.
As stated in the latest gazette, the duties and functions of the Education Minister was ‘formulation of policies, programmes and projects, monitoring and evaluation in regard to the subject of education while those subjects comes under the purview of departments, statutory institutions and public corporations listed in the gazette, EFSL Co-founders Dr. Sujata Gamage and Dr. Tara de Mel said in a recent statement.
The entities listed do not include provincial education departments or schools.
“At a time of severe and prolonged economic crisis, it is particularly important that the line ministry stays within its mandate. As we saw during the COVID-19 crisis, school closures could have been better managed and more schools kept open for more days if decisions were made at the local level with the support of divisional medical officers of health,” they said in the statement.
In the statement, the EFSL said the Ministry had to focus on policy formations to reduce the examination burden of students, secure and distribute international aids to schools, focus on outcomes without focusing on micro-manage processes, monitor and evaluate the performance of provincial departments of education.
The EFSL also requested the provincial education departments to exercise the powers that were due to them for efficient and effective administration of schools so students receive services that suit their specific needs.
They also requested the departments to determine minimum levels of nutritional, cognitive, physical, and psycho-social development for children in consultation with national health authorities and ensure that no child was left behind. (YP)
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