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| Thursday, 17 June 2004 |
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President stresses importance of quality primary school education The President has in a letter to all Cabinet Ministers, Members of Parliament, Chief Ministers and Members, of Provincial Councils has stressed the importance of the quality of education that should be given to primary schoolchildren. This aspect has been highlighted in the context of Grade One admissions, where principals had been admitting a large number of children on the instructions of the Ministry of Education and due to numerous political pressures. The President has issued instructions to Education Ministry officials to strictly confirm the criteria mentioned in the school admission circular and not overcrowd the Grade One classes. Full text of President's letter : President's instructions on school admissions President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, in a letter dated June 08, addressed to all Cabinet Ministers, Members of Parliament,Chief Ministers and Members of the Provincial Councils set out the following instructions that are to be observed in respect of admission of children to schools. The President's letter read: You are aware that admission of children to schools is a serious problem confronting the Ministry of Education every year. This problem, though involves 45 schools out of the 324 National Schools in the island, and a few Provincial Schools, results in a wastage of time of Ministry officials as well as those of school Principals. On the other hand it drives towards fraudulent means, many parents who fail to gain admission for their children to schools of their choice. Further, it also makes it inevitable for children to be trained to utter lies when they meet the teachers for the first time. Under such circumstances, the Education Ministry officials have to devote much of their time to engage themselves in this exercise, thereby limiting their contribution to the qualitative development of the educational field. The present process of school admission is based on the following factors: 1. Proximity of the parents' residence to the school of admission. 2. Parents' relationship with the school. The following is the analysis of the maximum of 40 chances of admission to grade 1 in every school: 1. Principal Chief Occupant's children 40 per cent 2. Subordinate Chief Occupant's children 07 per cent (such as sub-tenants etc.) 3. Past Pupils' children 25 per cent 4. Brothers and sisters of children who are presently studying in the school 15 per cent 5. Children of state officers who come on transfer 07 per cent 6. Children of teachers who are serving or who have served in difficult areas 04 per cent 7. Children of expatriates who have returned to the island 02 per cent TOTAL 100 In addition, 5 places of admission to every grade must be reserved for children of the disabled soldiers or soldiers killed in action. Problems that crop up on admission of children to schools. 1. Though there are incidence of common frauds relating to admission of children to grade 1 or other grades, the law enforcers or the Bribery Commission are unable to bring them to books due to the failure of the parents to complain. 2. School Principals and senior teaching staff lose valuable time they can devote to regular academic activities due to their engagement with selection boards and boards of appeal. 3. Due to the escalation of competition to enter the allegedly popular schools the number of children in those schools have increased (i.e. 3000-7000) bringing about management difficulties while the number of children in rural schools dwindled to the point of closure. 4. Children as tender as 5 years have to wake up early in the morning and travel 30 to 40 miles by bus or van, some times skipping their breakfast to reach their school, thereby making them incapable of pursuing educational activities. 5. Taking all these factors into consideration, the maximum number of children in a classroom has been limited to 40 but due to various influences this number exceeds up to 50 in most of the popular schools. The above circumstances have rendered the teachers incapable of performing duties in the classroom satisfactorily and have affected the newly introduced "Student Centred" Educational Reforms Programme seriously. By way of finding a complete solution to these problems, I have directed the Ministry officials to carry out the following instructions: 1. The finalization of school admissions in 2004 was scheduled for January, but due to complaints of irregularities received, to establish a unit in the Presidential Secretariat to scrutinize them and find solutions. 2. In order to minimise the pressure on applications for admission to popular schools, instructions were given to revive and accelerate the programme of improving selected schools in Divisional Secretariat Divisions and the Model Primary Schools Projects, as initiated by the People's Alliance Government in 1997. 3. To identify and modernize National Schools and Provincial Council Schools in the close proximity to the most popular schools such as Royal College and Visakha Vidyalaya which are in high competition and divert excess applications to those schools. 4. The recommendations of the National Education Commission have been sought to implement a new policy of school admissions from January 2006.Till then the current policy is applicable in case of school admissions for all National Schools and Provincial Schools for the year 2005. Instructions were issued to make a few amendments to the existing circular. 5. The officials concerned have been instructed to observe a high degree of transparency in respect of admissions to grade 1 to grade 11 and confine the number of children to 40. 6. The number of children in Grade 12 and 13 (Advanced Level) is subject to a maximum of 35. This will enable the teacher to understand the student easily and build up a teacher-pupil cordiality. Limiting the number of children definitely will facilitate educational ability of the student while enabling the teacher to perform his duty fruitfully. This procedure is particularly intended to promote the student's educational aptitude in order to make his future successful. I hope that all Members of the Cabinet, Members of Parliament, all Chief Ministers and all Members of Provincial Councils will extend their fullest cooperation to the Education Ministry officials to implement these rules and regulations which are intended to improve the quality of education. |
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