- ‘Education system to undergo transformation’
- A/L exam for 2023 to be conducted in December
- O/L exam for 2023 to be held in March, April next year
Education Minister Dr. Susil Premajayantha said that the Advanced Level Examination results will be released in the middle of August.
The Minister announced that the evaluation of the answer scripts of the examination will be completed in the first week of August and the results will be released soon after that. Minister Premajayantha expressed these views yesterday (10) during a press conference themed ‘Collective Path to a Stable Country’ held at the Presidential Media Center (PMC).
The Minister further said that if the evaluation of Advanced Level answer scripts were not delayed, the results would have been released earlier.
The Minister also said that the total number of answer scripts that should be evaluated was 3.4 million.
He also said that the Advanced Level examination for the year 2023 will be held before Christmas in December and the GCE Ordinary Level examination for the year 2023 will be held in the months of March and April next year.
The Minister said that the evaluation of the answer sheets of the Ordinary Level examination will be started immediately after the evaluation of the AL exam papers and the total number of answer scripts that should be evaluated was 7.4 million.
The Minister stated that due to the closure of schools in the years 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID pandemic, there is a problem of delays in the examinations of schoolchildren and steps will be taken to rectify the problem in the next year.
Education Minister Dr. Susil Premajayantha further said the country’s education system will undergo an educational transformation and essential measures will be taken to produce students who are prepared for the twenty-first century.
According to the Education Minister, human resources will be managed for that purpose and education will be reformatted in accordance with worldwide standards in order to produce a sustainable and high-quality education.
The Minister added that the ‘Suraksha Sisu Rakshanaya’ insurance scheme introduced for schoolchildren which was suspended due to the financial crisis will resume in 2024.
Dr. Premajayantha further said: “In developed countries, the Ministry of Education acts as a separate entity from the Central Government and a Provincial Minister is in- charge of the Ministry of Education. The educational rights of children in countries like India, Canada and Japan have been safeguarded as a result of this educational pattern.
The Ministry of Education in Sri Lanka is under the control of the Central Government. All schools in our country, with the exception of 399, are governed by the Provincial Ministries of education.
The initiative to establish 1,000 National Schools was launched in 2001. When the were 13th Constitutional Amendment was initiated, there were 17 National Schools in this country. However, as a result of political initiatives or the requests of individual Education Ministers, there was a dramatic rise in the number of National Schools. However, one cannot say that it led to high-quality education. There was a period in time when 28 National Schools were created overnight. But right now, the education industry needs to undergo a transformative change. Instead of the exam-centred education system, students should be aligned in a student-centred education pattern.
“There was a significant setback in education as a result of COVID-19 and the recent economic downturn. Additionally, socio economic issues made it impossible to run the schools effectively due to fuel and gas concerns. Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) and Teacher trade unions did not attend to evaluate the answer sheet of the Advanced Level examination.
The evaluation of the A-Level exam questions has been completed, and that matter is now resolved. I think the exam results could be released in the middle of the next month (August). The A-Level exams for this year are scheduled to take place in December, according to the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education has taken steps to hold all the examinations in the prescribed year.
Also, the program needed to reform the new education is currently being implemented. Plans have been made to start teaching activities through English medium in association with the British Council. For this purpose, 13,800 teachers have been trained so far. The updating of textbooks for English was also started promptly.
The addition of Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology to the curriculum is proposed for two grade levels, Grade 6-9 and Grade 10-13. We are attempting to secure Information Technology assistance for this from companies like Microsoft.
About fifty principal positions are open. While conducting a competitive examination for the recruitment, a trade union went to court and got an injunction.
For the recruitment of teacher administration services, there are roughly 22,000 openings. Government employees who applied for the position have also gone to court to explain why they are unable to take the competitive exam. The recruitment process has thus far been delayed as a result.
Due to 100 people’s human rights being brought up in court, 4.2 million students’ human rights have already been violated. As a result, we think the court will rule on this issue quickly.
We are working to continue the ‘13 plus’ education program presented by the President when he was the Prime Minister. A selection committee has been established to expand the education sector and the necessary proposals are currently being prepared.
Accordingly, the necessary program to expand education will be prepared jointly with Non-Governmental Organizations in the future. Arrangements are being made to provide loan facilities to Non-Government Universities as well as to create an environment where they can contribute to the economy of this country.
It is intended to establish a training University in Kotagala to train students who choose to go to a plantation in order to safeguard the educational rights of the children of estate workers. By substantially bolstering the regulating program of private and international schools, we are committed to ensuring children’s right to education. With regard to all of these issues, we are working to bring about a change in education from next year”.