Grade one classes to be limited to 35

9 October 2015 02:15 pm

The Education Ministry today stated that the Supreme Court order to limit Grade One classrooms to a maximum of 35 students will be enforced in government schools from 2017 by reducing the number of admissions annually.

Additional Secretary of the Education Ministry Mr. H.U. Prematilake said though the court order was obtained to cut the number of grade one students to 35, they had identified several problems that had arisen when the rule was practically implemented. Therefore, Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam had made a request to Cabinet regarding the issue, he said.

In the request, Minister Kariyawasam had asked the approval from Cabinet to allow the schools to keep their existing number of students until 2017.

Accordingly, the number of students will be cut from 2017, one by one annually till it reaches a maximum of 35, Education Ministry’s Additional Secretary Mr. H.U.Prematilake said.  

“Most of the schools have not yet been developed. So, the parents seek popular schools which are well-developed. The main objective of limiting the number of students is to ensure quality education in schools. With the island-wide programme themed “the nearest school is best school”, we will uplift all the schools. After the conclusion of the programme, it will be easy to keep the maximum number of Grade one students in to 35,” Mr. Prematilake said. (Piyumi Fonseka)