NCE standards have become mediocre

It is with a sense of sorrow and disappointment  that I pen these few lines. 

My sole intention is to draw the attention of the Minister of Education to a white elephant that devours a colossal amount of money out of the sweat and labour of the tax payer.

I was a trained graduate teacher in the Ministry of Education for thirteen years. Thereafter I joined the academic staff of the National College of Education, Kalutara,  having acquired post graduate qualifications in the process.   I was there for twenty four  years at a stretch. During this long period I had the good opportunity to see how the  Institute of National Education was functioning. 

This whole set up was the brainchild of the then Education Minister Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe with the idea of redesigning and revitalising the whole gamut of primary and secondary education in the country. The reason is that the heads of the NIE who were appointed from time to time were more keen on earning foreign degrees and making foreign tours under the pretext of studying the systems of education in  developed countries failed to do what they were expected to. 

Another funny thing is that there are  ladies who become consultants of the NIE  in different projects after their retirement. Most of them don’t keep pace with what is happening in the education sector outside the ministry and the NIE. There are some who earned their doctorates even after  their retirement at the age of sixty years, some of which are obtained from mediocre institutions abroad.

I therefore appeal to  the  Minister of Education to design a solid criteria for officers of the education sector for their higher education qualifications. 

H.D. Dharmasekar