School curriculum to include ‘Law' as subject

A Parliamentary Sub-Committee has been appointed to formulate an appropriate methodology in order to include ‘Law' as a subject in the school curriculum.

This sub-committee was appointed at a special joint meeting of the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Education and Justice chaired by Education Minister Prof. G.L Peiris and Justice Minister Ali Sabri PC recently.

Accordingly, the 8-member committee includes State Minister Susil Premajayantha MPs Rauf Hakeem, S. Shritharan, Weerasumana Weerasinghe, Sagara Kariyawasam, Amarakeerthi Athukorala, Diana Gamage and Major Sudarshana Denipitiya. Assistant Secretary General Tikiri K. Jayathilake was appointed as the secretary to this sub-committee.

Justice Minister Ali Sabri said that it was very important to impart a basic understanding of the law to the children of this country as the public knowledge of the law is at a very low level. 

He emphasized that steps have been taken to provide citizen education in basic law in the developed countries and that there is an urgent need to incorporate knowledge of law into the school curriculum.

Education Minister Prof. G.L Peiris instructed the committee members that the report containing the recommendations be submitted within two months.

Thereafter, the law subject should be included in the curriculum as soon as possible on the recommendation of an expert committee, the Minister added.