National Policy for Education soon – Minister Gunawardena | Daily News

National Policy for Education soon – Minister Gunawardena

The Committee Meeting in progress.
The Committee Meeting in progress.

Leader of the House, Education Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said on Friday that that a new National Education Policy is being formulated.

He was speaking at the Consultative Committee on Education in Parliament.

The need to formulate a proper system to fill the vacancies of Principals in schools was also discussed at the meeting.

While claiming that resolving the teacher salary anomaly is a serious problem, State Minister Susil Premajayantha said that locating teachers should also be streamlined. The State Minister also stated that a programme is underway to transform the Teacher Training National Colleges of Education into Universities.

Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara said that the official languages are in a state of decline. He also drew the attention of the Committee 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.

Member of Parliament Dr. Harini Amarasuriya said that it is very important to include children's rights in this as well. She said that the relationship between law and society should also be reflected in it.

It was also discussed at this Committee that a proper programme should be implemented to make permanent the graduate trainees attached to the schools. MPs brought to the notice of the committee that out of 60,000 graduates, 18,000 are now attached to schools and the methodology proposed to make permanent them is problematic.

State Minister Jayantha Samaraweera stated that some of the graduates who are now attached to schools do not like this methodology.

MP Chandima Weerakkody said that 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 1,000 National Schools. The Committee Chairman informed Education Ministry Secretary Prof. Kapila Perera to take measures and explain the matter to the Committee.

State Minister Sitha Arambepola, Members of the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Education, Parliamentarians Anupa Pasqual, Yadamini Gunawardena and Premanath C. Dolawatta were also present at the Committee Meeting.

Minister Douglas Devananda, State Ministers Vijitha Berugoda and Piyal Nishantha and Parliamentarians Upul Mahendra Rajapaksa and Gevidu Kumaratunga joined the Committee via Zoom.

Officials of the Education Ministry and related institutions also participated on Zoom.

The Committee, which met six months later, is the first Ministerial Consultative Committee Meeting of the Education Ministry held after the appointment of the Leader of the House Dinesh Gunawardena as the Education Minister.


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