Over 1000 listed:

Ministry on schools development drive

Dharma Sri Abeyratne

The Education Ministry will soon develop over 1,000 schools in urban, rural, and remote areas throughout the country to reduce the high demand for National and prestigious schools, Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena said.

These schools will be equipped with more facilities especially for the advanced levels. The academic activities standard will also be improved. According to the Education Ministry statistics there are around 9,700 Provincial and National schools in the country.

“These selected schools will be developed to the maximum within the next few months” Gunawardena said.

Students can enter these schools especially for advanced levels since these schools will be ideal for higher studies. This will reduce the demand for admission to National and prestigious schools.

There is a false impression among parents that the quality of education in National schools is higher than that of the ordinary schools. This is the main reason for parents to rush to National schools. However, the quality of education is much similar in most schools as the Education Ministry has improved the education in both National and other schools.

“The objective of this program is to provide the selected schools with laboratory equipment, Computer Centres, Language Skills Development Centres, Sports equipment and much more aiming to assist the schools to improve overall quality of education” the Minister added.