10 September 2019 12:01 am
By Yohan Perera
A Bill aimed at modernising Sri Lanka’s education system to be in line with the demands of the next century will be introduced soon, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the new education institute for children with special needs in Kahatuduwa, he said holding on to an outdated education system would not serve any purpose. “There is no point in carrying on an education system that belongs to the past century. It should be modernised to be in line with the needs of the next century. We cannot pledge to save the nation if we fail to change the country’s systems to face future challenges. The incumbent government has spent a staggering sum to modernise the local education system. We decided to provide tabs to schoolchildren, recruited trainee teachers and provided infrastructure facilities to schools for this purpose.
“However, the government’s new policy on education will cover school education, the higher education sector as well as vocational training. We will provide vocational training to students in schools. The current number of vocational training centres in the country will have to double in the future,” he said.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said ten per cent of schoolchildren were ones with special needs today. “The government has focused on children with special needs as it believes in creating a bright future for every child. More than 500 school buildings will be opened today for children with special needs. We have spent a whopping Rs.64 billion for the ‘Langama Pasala Hondama Pasala’ programme and provided buildings to more than 1,500 schools countrywide,” he said.