Coordinator


A document outlining New Education Policies and Proposals (NEPP) was presented recently to the speaker and the members of the parliament by the Ministry for Education. This document is a result of deliberations on a new education act that began with a public notice published in November 2007 by the Committee to Draft a New education Act seeking input, and culminated with a series of sittings by a Select Committee of Parliament held during 2012. The NEPP document would not have seen the light of day if not for the efforts by a group of volunteers who worked with Dr. Dr. G.
The LIRNEasia survey of degree programs offered outside of the public- university system revealed vibrant sector producing  8293 degrees or degree equivalents in  2011/12. The 13 Public universities produced 12,604 graduates in contrast. Of the institutions outside of the public universities, Private universities produced 2,733 graduates.  and 10 public institutions outside of the purview of the UGC produced 4,229 graduates.  Notably 73% of the computer science/IT graduates were produced by the private universities.

What do our children really need to know

Posted on September 24, 2010  /  4 Comments

Education reforms are in the air in Sri Lanka. Finally,  a proposal to draft a new education act is being considered by a special consultative committee of the parliament. In these deliberations simple truths often get lost in  the details. Take the issue of curriculum, for instance. What do our children really need to learn to be well and happy in an increasingly complex and competitive world?
According to a New York Times report  the Secretary of Education in USA Arne activating the human rights division in department in an effort to  force the fifty to states in the union to enforce federal laws that protect poor, minority and disabled students. That means that states and localities that have historically shortchanged these children — by saddling them, say, with watered-down curriculums and unqualified teachers — will be required to do better or risk losing federal education dollars. Such is the way that the central government in USA tries influence the education process es that ar devolved right down to local government level. In Sri Lanka too, If education is truly devolved to the provinces as is mandated in the 13th amendment, our minister of education in the national government can be the regulator instead of  the bumbling fool who can not deliver the text books on time or get  term tests done properly. What is stopping our national government from doing the seemingly sensible thing?
Following is an abstract of the presentation made by Dr. Sujata Gamage to the Council on Higher Education in Pretoria, South Africa, on February 23, 2010. ABSTRACT Universities are increasingly called upon to contribute to the development needs of a country but the nature of the contribution can vary with the mission or the resource base of the institution. University systems in most countries, by design or otherwise, consist of a diverse range of institutions. An assessment of the contribution of a university requires some means of telling apples from the oranges.
While the debate on banning of mobiles in schools is raging it is refreshing to hear of a school that is using the mobile as a teaching device and teach proper use of the device at the same time. As the mobiles becomes smarter they will become affordable alternatives to computers. (See http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-07-27-cellphoneschool_N.
Eight thousand of the 10,000 principals failed examination God bless the students (Lanka-e-News, June 11, 2009, 7.20 PM; http://www.lankaenews.com/English/news.php?
According to a news item in the Lankadeepa a parent who refused to pay Rs: 6500 as admission fee for Gampola Zahira  was beaten up in the school premises by some one who  had said ” Because of you the school  did not get the money it needed”. Apparently, the school development society had decided to charge Rs: 6500 from each new year-1 student. The parent in question had complained to higher authorities who in turn had instructed the school to charge only the facility fee of Rs: 36. How about admissions fees charged by other schools? Does the minister and ministry endorse admission charges by schools other than Gampola Zahira?
Separating primary schools from larger schools is an impossiblity? Not so, if you move away from the power orbits  of the super schools. Behind the scenes, a few dedicated officials are trying to separate primary schools from popular schools in a set of 150 low income education divisions.  The goal is develop at least one larger school in each division as a well equipped secondary school that attract children from a cluster of neighboring primary schools.  The program is called Isuru and the director of the program is Mr.
I was shocked to read about the arrest of Mr. H.M. Dayananda on charges of bribery as reported in the Lankadeepa newspaper on December 02nd. I first met Mr.