New plans for education and higher education sectors: Ed. Minister
View(s):Fuel crisis drastically affected student attendance over the past few weeks
This week, Education Minister Susil Premajayantha spelled out plans for the Ministry to ensure that educational activities are conducted in a manner that will not adversely impact the students.
Minister Premajayantha told Parliament this week, that re-scheduling the dates of exams was among the plans.
The move came as the current crisis in the country has drastically reduced the attendance of students in Western and Central provinces during the past few weeks, eventually leading to closure of all schools.
Until the closure, classes in rural schools were conducted as usual, with the best turnout reported from the Northern Province with 71% teacher attendance and a 70% student attendance, the Minister said.
The lost school time was expected to be recovered by reducing the upcoming August holidays, he said.
The Ministry also decided to hold a special session for primary school teachers, once the fuel crisis was resolved to make plans to sort out the lost school time. In order to make up for lost school time, this year’s A/L exams had been delayed to November and December as well, he said.
Accordingly, the A/L exams were scheduled for November 28 to December 23, and the Grade 5 Scholarship exam would be on November 27.
This was to allow a minimum of three months after the release of the 2021 A/L results which would be released on August 15, the Minister said.
Since the Examinations Department required time between the two main exams, the O/L exams were further delayed to April or May next year, he added.
Educational sessions were to be conducted from August to October, with the participation of university lecturers, to support the perturbed situation of A/L students.
Meanwhile, other students would have educational sessions across 20 Dialog channels to obtain a wider coverage. More than 7500 lessons were prepared, which would be repeated in the evenings.
The Minister said the period of entrance of primary schoolchildren was to be extended as well.
He said the Ministry expected to provide at least 1.1 million primary schoolchildren with lunch, to avoid malnutrition, within the next month and a half.
The Minister also said it was believed that frequent closure of schools had led to the decrease in numeracy and literacy of primary schoolchildren. The Ministry is currently conducting surveys on the matter, he added.
Since universities engaged in online means of conducting lessons, it was expected to provide computer and laptop facilities to university students, the Minister also said.
Vocational Education was also seen to utilise online methods, while practical education, consisting 80% of the syllabus, was to be conducted when transport became available.
The Minister also expected to seek international aid in conducting educational activities.
“We have approved the bill to get the required printing paper and ink under Indian credit facilities,” he said.
“The People’s Republic of China has already agreed to provide 50% of uniforms for free. We are currently carrying out the necessary activities to provide the rest of the uniforms by tender,” he added.
The Minister said the United Nations’ International Finance Facility for Education (IFFEd) had allocated between US$200 million and US$250 million for lower income countries like Sri Lanka.
He added that educational systems used in other countries to recover lost school time, such as increasing school days, could be implemented in Sri Lanka as well.
(SJA)
HitAd.lk is the best and biggest mobile phone market in Sri Lanka, and we guarantee you will find what you need here from our extensive listing of mobile phones for sale in Sri Lanka. Whether it’s a budget-priced smartphone for communication, or higher end features with advanced connectivity, there are many different options from which to choose from on our site!