Lack of trained teachers hamper Tamil education

Siri WAWWAGE- Matara Roving corr.

Many Sinhala Medium schools in the Matara district have faced difficulties in preparing a standard Tamil question paper for their term tests due to the lack of properly trained teachers to teach the Tamil langauge.

This is inpsite of the Government incurring a heavy expenditure for the provision of adequate stocks of Tamil text books and teacher guide books to these schools.

Reports said certain schools in the district had failed to prepare a Tamil langauge question paper for the recently held term tests.

A case in point is the Makandura Maha Vidyalaya where students alleged that they did not sit for a Tamil langauge paper this time. Although a certain batch of selected teachers were given a training in the teaching of Tamil they are said to be lacking adequate competence in teaching the langauge.

This situation has denied opportunities for students in Advanced Level classes of certain schools to offer Tamil as a subject for this year's GCE Advanced Level Examination. Tamil langauge classes are being held regularly at many urban schools in Matara but the level of Tamil taught is said to be substandard.

Many parents have expressed concern about this sorry situation and urged provincial education authorities to rectify the shortcoming.