Edu. Min. to remove ECA evaluation reports from schools

The Education Ministry had taken a decision to do away with the Extra Curricular Activities (ECA) Evaluation report that school-teachers need to submit on their pupils, the Education Ministry said yesterday.

Speaking to Daily Mirror, Minister of Education Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said that after taking note of the difficulties faced by school-teachers when drafting these evaluation reports, the Ministry had decided to remove the old method and formulate a new one.

“Several teachers have told us that the evaluation process was extremely taxing for them and takes up much of the time they need to spend with their pupils. It also revealed that the method that was being used currently was not a productive one. After taking these facts into consideration the ministry has decided to terminate the current method and introduce a new one,” he said.

Minister Kariyawasam also said steps had been taken to fast-track teacher training in order to develop the school education system.

Expressing his views on the Ministry’s actions, Ceylon Teachers' Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin was full of praise for the measures taken by the minister. “So far the evaluations done by teachers, who put so much effort into this task, have been just thrown into the waste-paper basket when they were sent to the Examination Department", he said. (Thilanka Kanakarathna)