History and Religion will be taken off the Grade 6 English-medium curriculum in government and semi-government schools, starting next year. However, English medium students already studying these two subjects for the Ordinary Level will be permitted to offer them at the O/L examination.
Ministry of Education Secretary Nimal Bandara told The Sunday Times that Grade 7 to 11 students presently following classes in those two subjects can continue to do so, but History and Religion will be dropped from the English-medium curriculum in 2009.
“We have decided that History and Religion will be taught in Sinhala and Tamil only,” Mr. Bandara said. “Parents and principals will be told that children who want to study these two subjects will have to do so in these two languages.”
The new ruling appears in Education Ministry circular No. 2008/12, dated 21.04.2008. The circular also states that schools offering English medium classes from Grade 6 to 11 may teach a maximum of five English-medium subjects, excluding English Language.
The curriculum for English-medium Grade 6 to 9 students includes Mathematics, Science, Health, Western Music, Geography, Life Science and Citizenship Education. Students can choose five from any of these seven subjects.
Students in Grades 10 and 11 must offer Mathematics and Science as core subjects, while choosing any three from the following six subjects: Geography, Citizenship Education, Entrepreneurship, Western Music, Information Technology and Health. | 
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