Sri Lanka Education Forum

Cabinet approval was granted to a memorandum submitted by Education Minister Susil Premajayantha to increase the number of Grade 5 scholarships from the present 10,000 to 15,000 from 2008. The Cabinet which met on Wednesday chaired by Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake also allocated an additional Rs. 25 million for the increased 5000 scholarships with a total annual disbursement standing at Rs. 375 million, Acting Minister of Information and Media Lakshman Yapa Abeywardana told journalists yesterday. Cabinet Approval was also granted to a Paper submitted by Plantations Minister D.M. Jayaratne to formulate a structure to charge a tax from coconut lands authorized for ...

Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has taken an immediate decision to give priority to doctors serving in most difficult areas with dedication when granting foreign scholarships received through international agencies.This will be implemented from today, Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry sources said. The sources said according to this decision, priority will be given to doctors serving in most difficult areas when granting foreign scholarships sponsored by the WHO, GFATM, UNICEF and other international organisations. Ten most difficult hospitals will be selected from each district to implement this rule. The doctors who serve with dedication in those selected hospitals will ...

Said the Minister of Higher Education unveiling the “Strategic Plan For Higher Education: Laying The Foundation Beyond 2020”, medium to long term plan and the National Higher Education Action Plan 2007-2010 is a short-term plan. No it was not minister Wiswa Warnapala on the occasion of fifty years since independence of Sri Lanka. It was Datuk Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of Higher Education for Malaysia. On the launch of the National Higher Education Strategic and Action Plans, Minister Mohamed said that the plans are comprehensive and involved the public and private sectors. “The outcome of these plans will become the foundation of the ...

Jinushika Chalindi Saluwadana, a student of St. John Bosco College, Kaluaggala who secured the second place at the year 5 scholarship examination says her dedication and perseverance towards the studies and obedience to parents helped to achieve success.She secured the one of the second places by scoring 196 marks. "My parents and teachers were the constant source of inspiration, she said. My father helped me immensely by providing additional reading materials and model question papers." I read a lot and practised answering the model question papers from Grade 3 onwards, she said. After coming home from school, I attend to my home ...

The accused in the Bingiriya Mola-Eliya primary school rape case, the Principal was imposed a sentence of 15 years rigorous imprisonment, Rs. 10,000 fine and ordered to pay Rs. 100,000 as compensation by the Provincial High Court Judge Tudor Gunaratne yesterday.The Principal was found guilty of sexually abusing a nine-year-old girl of the same school on January 1, 1989. The accused fainted in the Court House before the verdict. The High Court Judge read out the judgement after 15 minutes after the accused regained consciousness. By Ariyapala Wansathilake Source: http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/09/25/news30.asp 

The cover story on Montage Magazine(Sep/Oct) is the Worsening Crisis in Education. This monthly news magazine does a good job Of picking the right theme at the right time and hitting hard where it should. The contributors to the latest issue are: Victor Ivan (The Travails of School and Free Education), Kabir Hashim, MP (The Mess Gets Worse); Sunil Jayanthe Navaratne (University Education: An Obsolete System) and; Prof Lal Perera (School Admissions: A New Crisis in Education) Overall it is a good read covering the current state of affairs, although I felt the higher education piece could have been a little more than an ...

A Grade five student of Sri Lanka scored 200 marks out of 200 total for the first time in the history in highly competitive Grade Five Scholarship examination, said the Examination Commissioner Anura Edirisinghe. The young brilliant student Chagi Basuru Weerakoon is from Horana Thakshila College in the Kalutara district. Two students who scored 196 each from Hanwella John Bosco and Galle Wathugedara schools gained second place. The third place went to a student from Divulapitiya Horagasmulla School. All the students in top ranks this year are from schools in outstation areas, said the Examination Commissioner. Meanwhile, Thirumaran Elawaran, a student of Theresa ...

The results of Grade Five Scholarship Examination is out today.The Department of Examinations said the results have been released to school Principals who came to the Department. The Commissioner of Examinations Anura Edirisinghe said, the “cut off” mark this year has gone up to 150. About 302,000 children sat for this year’s exam held on September 19. Schools outside Colombo have reportedly secured the first, second and third places with Chagi Basuru Weerakoon, a student from Thakshila College, Horana of the Kalutara District scoring 200 marks out of 200 total for the first time in the history of Grade Five Scholarship ...

Mr. Donald Gaminitialke, who needs no introduction to Sri Lankan blogsphere, recently posted a comment about TOEIC in another blog.  TOEIC, is a test like TOEFL, he tells but more relevant for those who want to use English in their working environments. We are sure many Sri Lankan students want to prove their English knowledge to prospective employees. So we thought of introducing this to our readers with some additional information cut and pasted from Wikipedia. _____________________ The ETS (Educational Testing Service) in the USA developed the TOEIC test based on its precursor, the TOEFL test, following a request from Japan's Keidanren ...

MORE people are getting degrees than ever before. From 1995-2005 the graduation rate in rich countries increased by 12%, according to the OECD's “Education at a Glance” report, published on Tuesday September 18th. Australians are the keenest students, with over 80% of young people entering university in 2005. Australia also had a high graduation rate. Around three-quarters of young people in Nordic countries and Poland attend university, much higher than Germany or Austria. This may be because many degrees in the latter countries drag on for five or six years. Source: http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9823950