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Educational boon at Avurudu

THE Sinhala and Tamil New Year which dawns tomorrow could be said to have got off to a most propitious start with the country's secondary school student community registering very much improved performances in Mathematics and English Language at the recently conducted GCE Ordinary Level examination.

Thanks to the educational reforms launched under the guidance of President Kumaratunga and ably administered by Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Tara de Mel, the country has received an educational boon it has been longing for and that too in a festive atmosphere in which the entirety of Sri Lanka rejoices.

Inasmuch as the outbound traffic at this time of the year symbolizes a country at one with its traditions, the better performance at the GCE Ordinary Level by our students augurs well for the future and epitomises a country on an onward march.

We prefer to allow the figures on the performances by our GCE Ordinary Level students in Mathematics and the English Language to speak for themselves.

As a full page colour write-up by the Media Unit of the Ministry of Education, in this newspaper yesterday discloses, the percentage of passes in Mathematics has risen from 40 percent in 2002 to 45.4 percent in 2004 while the corresponding figures for English Language are 27.4 percent and 47.1 percent respectively. These are notable improvements and we hope the relevant figures would register an increasing trend in the years ahead.

It could be seen that these improvements have been registered in just two years and are a reflection of the fact that secondary education is now in better hands. As is well known, Maths and English have been two problem areas in secondary education with the percentage of passes in these subjects shrinking substantially over the years.

Apparently, teaching techniques and teacher motivation left much to be desired because no child is born without the capability of learning these subjects and acquiring good grades in them in public examinations.

However, with teacher training receiving priority in the current educational reforms, the bottlenecks as regards Maths and English seem to be in the process of being cleared. However, we need to guard against being ensnared by a sense of complacency.

The percentages of passes in respect of Maths and English are indeed encouraging but we cannot allow ourselves to be lulled into the belief that all will be well in the future. There needs to be a continuous endeavour on the part of students and teachers to improve on this performance.

Besides, the project to establish more and more National Schools in the provinces in particular, needs to be speeded-up.

Ridding the public school system of corruption and bribery is no doubt, a step in the correct direction but the State also needs to ensure that every youngster in this country could access a sound primary and secondary education at least.

As we see it, well equipped National Schools countrywide is the soundest answer to this requirement.

Now, at a time when country rebuilding is receiving emphasis, the environment couldn't be more conducive to a vigorous expansion of the public school system.

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