Life of studentship to be extended by another year

Hathoon Sheriffdeen

Commencing the school life of the students will be extended to another year in the future. The academic education duration of thirteen years is planned to prolong for fourteen years in the near future to promote the skills of the students who complete the education. The Deputy Minister of Higher Education Mohamed Mustaffa told Daily News.

After the thirteen-year duration in schools, students have to wait for another one to two years time to enter to a university. This process will enable to utilize this idling period and the skill level of these students pass out

 from schools will be enriched in the future. Three subjects are planned to introduce this year and marks are planned to introduce to the Z score to promote the serious involvement. Deputy Minister said.

He said that these three subjects can be Information Technology, English and a general subject. The general subject will comprise several parts like leadership skills, management, trade and journalism. This will promote the standard of the students pass out from schools.

Deputy Minister Mustaffa also said at the interview that Ministries of Education, Higher Education, Vocational Training, Youth Affairs and the foreign employment sectors will get together to implement this plan in the future. Various donors like World Bank and Asian Development Bank are willing to fund this project.

Students who are qualified to study in government universities, but not allocated a university can be asked to study on a post paid cost in various private universities on the same curricular.

This nominal amount can be arranged through various banks. Students can pay this with a grace period and this nominal amount can be reduced from their salaries in future. This will increase the skill level of the students and can standardize the local higher educational systems, he said.

Private and the foreign universities can be affiliated with the Government universities and promote higher education to every young child of the country. This can develop the labour standard and the values of the human resources in Sri Lanka, Mustaffa said.

Another group of students can be directed to technical colleges for various courses demanded by the labour market, Deputy Minister of Higher Education said.