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| Wednesday, 15 October 2003 |
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Politics | |
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| No reduction in budgetary allocations for education - Minister by Manjula Fernando Education Minister Dr. Karunasena Kodituwakku denied claims that the Government has slashed budgetary allocations for education next year. Speaking at the C. W. W. Kannangara commemoration ceremony at the BMICH, the Minister said over Rs. 30 billion will be allocated under the 2004 budget for the three ministries overseeing the education sector. Forty students who excelled at the GCE Advanced Level 2003 examination were awarded gold medals from the Education Ministry. Their teachers received certificates in recognition of their service. The Minister said UNESCO declared the concept 'Education For All' in 1990 setting targets for countries to achieve this goal in the future. The Kannangara policy of the Free Education which was implemented very much earlier underlined the same concept but roadblocks at the implementation level left the country today, lagging behind others. He said even in the regional context Sri Lanka is far behind, almost all the countries except Maldives in terms of educational output and input despite having a head start during the mid century. Stressing the importance of English Education Minister said, like all the successive governments they were struggling with political undercurrents to get their English education policy get off the ground properly. "Dirty politics have deprived the country of a better education system in the country," he stressed adding that over 76 per cent of GCE Ordinary Level Students fail English at the national exam. Minister noted that a shocking number of 16 districts have not produced good results at the GCE Advanced Level examination this year. The majority of achievers, 22 were from the Colombo district followed by Galle with five gold award winners. Coming third was Kurunegala with 4, Kandy 3 and Jaffna 2. Six other districts including Matara and Kalutara bagged one each. School Education Minister Suranimala Rajapakse said the need for an Educational Research Centre has been felt considering the high number of failures in the GCE Ordinary Level especially in the subjects, English and Mathematics. He stressed it was time to shed conventional teaching methods and replace them with novel techniques to reach students more effectively. The Colombo University's ICT Director Prof. V. K. Samaranayake delivered the Dr. Kannangara Commemoration speech. National Institute of Education Director General G. B. Goonewardena, Commissioner of Appeals A. M. R. B. Amarakoon, School Education Ministry Secretary H. M. Sirisena, Education Ministry Acting Secretary Indrani Kariyawasam and School Unit Director N. Mundige were also present. |
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