27th July 1997

The trouble is ambitious parents-Kumarasinghe

Education is perhaps the single most important area where well thought of and concerted action is imperative. As the rush for admissions to the ‘bigschools’ intensifies, we spoke to Royal College Principal S.H. Kumarasinghe, Sri Lanka’s foremost State school for boys with 5, 975 pupils for his views on our educational system. Excerpts from the interview:-

by Roshan Peiris

Q: Don’t you think the quality of education has gone down?

A: It is too general a statement. The main problem is that numbers have risen but at Royal the quality of education is still maintained.

Q: And the quality of the teachers?

A: It is not actually the quality of teachers that is low but the commitment of teachers. I must say it is not so bad at Royal where the majority of teachers are committed to their teaching.

Q: Why is commitment low, is it due to economic and social factors?

A: Our society, in all avenues, employees are looking for more money to keep up their status with their neighbours . So their commitment to their jobs have fallen.

Q: Could you explain why the English standard in state schools is low.

A: I agree that English education is not the same as it was during our time. We were taught English by teachers whose medium of instruction was English, unlike today. The teachers who teach English are those who have studied in their mother tongue. Hence from the late 60s the teaching of English has been below standard. So there aren’t that many teachers available to teach in English.

Also though the teaching of English is compulsory from grade one, learning as such is not compulsory. One does not have to pass in English. Take students doing the A/ Levels they never choose English as a subject.

Q: So what is your solution?

A: We must improve the quality of teaching among the teachers by courses in English Training Colleges. Also we should have in- service courses as a rule and not just occasionally. Moreover I think teachers can be retrained in teaching English. In private schools, I don’t mean International schools, the parents of the students generally come from English oriented backgrounds where English is spoken at home. So, English in private schools is better. Their teachers too believe in a better quality of English teaching.

I also feel that parents should take an interest personally and not with tuition teachers in the homework of their children. It is a kind of morale booster for the children. Tuition is given because education today is highly competitive and entrance to Universities is very difficult.

I fully agree with the statement made that much of the trouble we have at school level is because of ambitious parents. Most parents have made a habit of treating their children like robots because of their inordinate ambitions.

Parents are spoiling the childhood of children by not allowing them to play for awhile after school as we did. It is tuition classes for the tired child after school. Parents must also control the TV time spent by the children. With about eight channels children tend to watch TV whenever they can. Parents must take a hand in selecting the TV programmes children watch.

Q: What would you say is the biggest problem in education at College?

A: The biggest problem is motivation both among pupils and teachers. Children have no motivation to study because if they cannot enter a university or some higher educational institute they are left with a bleak future. We have not provided any worthy alternatives in our educational system.

Next, there is no motivation for teachers too. There are no avenues of professional development. Promotions as such are limited.

You say salaries are low? I agree and this is why most teachers take to giving tuition though by circular state school teachers are debarred from giving tuition.

Q: Is there any problem in the first year A/ Level classes, because of the reduction of four subjects to three.

A: There is no problem as such. We are waiting for the official circular to start the A/ Level first year students.

The reduction to 3 subjects removes a heavy burden on the children. Now achievement could be higher with better concentration. Four subjects were too much to cope with, especially because of vast syllabuses.

Royal College today plays the College song in English before starting classes and in Sinhala at the end of the school day. When I entered at 2 p.m. little boys in their blue shorts and white shirts stood at attention while the College song was played.

"It was a moving sight and Mr. Kumarasinghe has introduced this since it will be a training for them to stand at attention when the National Anthem is played. Today some don’t even bother to stand leave alone at attention when the National Anthem is played. This way they get a training when young," Mr. Kumarasinghe said.

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