No takers for Year One in 2,000 odd schools – Bandula

There are 2,123 schools which had less than 10 students admitted to grade one classes last year, Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena said in Parliament yesterday.Responding to a question by UNP MP Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, the minister said there had been 275 schools to which no student had been admitted to grade one last year.

He said during the past seven months, about 37 schools had been closed.

The minister who observed that closing down schools is not the government policy, said measures have been taken to open more schools.

Gunawardena said the number of schools to which only one student had been admitted to grade one last year was 123 while in 147 schools, only two students had been admitted to grade one.

He said various social reasons and development of the road network contributed to the closing of schools as there were a less number of students.

Gunawardena said the student and teacher ratio in Sri Lanka is five students for one teacher whereas the ratio is about 17 students for one teacher in many other countries. He said 409 fully fledged schools with modern facilities are being constructed by the government adding that 59 have already been opened.