Education Minister to fellow politicians:
NO RIGHT TO PUNISH TEACHERS!
Dharma Sri Abeyratne
No political party or politician has the right to mete out punishment
to any member of the teaching profession, Education Minister Bandula
Gunawardena said. The minister was addressing the ‘Arts Competition
2012’ certificate awarding ceremony at Isurupaya yesterday. “No
political party can claim a justifiable right to mete out punishment to
teachers, and on the other hand students should not be brought out of
schools and pushed onto the streets to participate in ‘protests.’
“Such acts are never accepted by the Education Ministry,” the
minister said. Minister Gunawardena said the Education Ministry has the
right to inquire into complaints made by teachers when such incidents
are reported.
In this respect, the Education Ministry will never consider the
position or status of the miscreant when investigating complaints by
teachers against such misconduct.
The minister pointed out that school children were victimised during
the three decades of terrorism.
He added that aesthetic subjects play a pivotal role in moulding
young minds. A significant turning point in the country’s education
sector will be witnessed on July 15 with the introduction of the
Technology Stream to the Advanced Level curriculum. The technology
stream will be introduced as the fifth stream from this year in keeping
with modern trends. The Advanced Level classes of all streams for those
who have got through the Ordinary Level Examination 2012 have been
scheduled to commence on July 15.
The present day Advanced Level comprises four streams , Science,
Mathematics, Commerce and Arts. Each year around 350,000 students sit
the Advanced Level examination and out of them 25,000 qualify to enter
universities. Around 300,000 youths, who sit the examination following
the four streams enter the job market annually. A greater number of them
though fail to obtain gainful employment since the four streams are not
basically job oriented. Since the four streams are academic streams, the
students have to follow many other courses to obtain proficiency in
various fields. Therefore, aiming to quench the huge demand in the job
market, the technology stream is introduced, Minister Gunawardena said.
At the initial stage, the new stream will be available at 200 schools
so as to cover every Divisional Secretariat Division and the number will
be expanded gradually. The Education Ministry will provide all
facilities for schools at which the technology stream is to be started. |