Training, Diploma for 40,000 teachers in 19,000 schools
Education Minister Dr. Susil Premajayantha says only qualified teachers with Government stipulated qualifications will be permitted to engage in pre-school education in the future.
“Around 40,000 pre-school teachers in 19,000 different types of pre-schools scattered all over the country will be given a specific training and a Diploma in the future. Only teachers with such qualifications will be given permission to commence pre-schools,” the Minister said.
He was speaking at the inauguration of a national programme to provide free school books to 100,000 children with economic difficulties at Bomiriya National School. The programme, implemented by the Samurdhi Development Department under the guidance of the Ministry of Education aims to prevent children from dropping out of School due to economic difficulties.
The minister addressing the gathering said that it is essential to pay special attention to pre-school education, which is the foundation of primary education.
He said in Japanese education system priority is given to pre-school education as it lays the foundation for a child’s future education. “By setting the foundation of providing an activity-based education to pre-school children in a certain framework, the burden of exams can be reduced so that unnecessary learning pressure can be reduced in other educational levels including primary education. If we can implement this successfully the weight of the children’s school bags will also be gradually reduced in the next few years” he said.
The Ministry of Education has trained 13,800 primary teachers in the year 2022 and has already started training the same amount in the year 2023. The Minister went on to say that a special programme has been implemented together with UNICEF for the development of primary education and that the use of English has already started in practice from the year one class.
The primary education development goals will be achieved by strengthening pre-schools, he added. He also noted that a pilot programme to provide vocational training to students after the A/L examination for a period of six months will begin from 2024.
The training courses will be held in the respective schools. Accordingly, about 210,000 students who will face the A/L exam which will be held from November 27 to December 21 this year, will study Information Technology and English language in the respective schools for six months after the exam.
The Minister further said that a pilot programme will begin in 320 schools in the country to provide the opportunity for 300,000 school students to undergo courses in Information Technology, English language and vocational training of their choice after passing the Ordinary Level examination.
Source – Daily News
