Ask the Minister: Matters of Public Interest 

A chat with V. S. Radhakrishnan, State Minister of Education 

Some of our readers will be very interested in getting to know the progress of the present government and the future plans of the Ministers. With the endeavour of creating awareness in this regard, Life Online met up with some Ministers and asked them a few questions. Their answers will be carried in this weekly column. This week, we speak to V. S. Radhakrishnan, State Minister of Education. 

What are the steps you have taken to transform the present education system? 

With the consent of the President and the Prime Minister we are introducing new Education Reforms which are in the process of being formulated. Accordingly, school education for children will be made compulsory. Teacher Training Colleges will be upgraded and teachers will be taught modern techniques for teaching. There will also be regular visits to schools by Inspectors who will check on standards and various other aspects of the schools. 

There is a view that with these new reforms O/L’s will not be a criteria to sit for AL’s. Is that correct? 

That is a misconception. To sit for the A Level examinations and get into University, they definitely need to have passed the O/Level exam. The difference with this new system is, if a student doesn’t pass the O/Levels they don’t have to leave school as there will be 24 bucket subjects introduced to the curriculum and they could follow two or three of these subjects. These subjects will have a syllabus of a high standard and something equivalent to the A/levels. When they finish the course they are already trained in their specific field and they will be able to get jobs easily. 

What is happening about the ‘Langama Pasela – Hondama Pasela’ theme? 

There are 10,300 schools all over Sri Lanka. Out of that we have selected about 7000 schools in this programme which are categorised as A,B,C and D. Every AG division will get two or three A grade schools. This A Grade school will have all facilities. B Grade schools will have facilities such as labs, teachers’ quarters etc., C Grade will have facilities such as cafeteria, good toilets, large class rooms etc.,.  Then the D Grade is the Primary section. 

We will provide the infrastructure facilities such as toilets, water supply, electricity etc., to all schools. We are spending about 6 billion rupees for this project. It is a four year project and at the end of the period all AGs Divisions will have well equipped schools and children can be sent to the school nearest to their homes, which will be as good as any other school. 

There was a talk that Ethics and Moral values will be introduced to the school curriculum. What is happening with that? 

Yes, this will be introduced to the system soon. 

There is a shortage of English teachers, even in some of the leading schools in Colombo. What do you plan to do about this problem? 

Yes, there’s a huge shortage of English teachers, that’s correct. Even in the National Schools where they have an English medium, there are no teachers to teach in English. We usually employ only graduate teachers but when it comes to English, we take the recognised Diploma trained teachers also. Peradeniya National College of Education was started especially for this purpose. We are doing teacher training in English at this institute. 

What’s your opinion about the memorising system we have been having as against modern day techniques which are more practical oriented? 

Those days when we studied we memorised everything from books. If someone can memorise, it is a really good thing. I don’t say it’s bad. But now it’s totally different. They don’t even need to carry books or memorise anymore as all information required by students are sourced from the Internet. They carry only their laptop. 

With the new technology we have introduced, the A Level students and even the teachers use laptops. 

What do you see as the downside of children using technology for the purpose of studying? 

What is not good is that the children sometimes just copy and paste things straight off the Internet and the teacher seeing this commends the work of the child. Now this has to be prevented. The child can of course source information from the Internet but they should be asked to write it in their own words or at least edit it so that they absorb this information. Otherwise how will they learn? 

Technology can be a very useful tool but it has to be used properly and educating children on this aspect is also as important as giving then the laptop to access the information. 

The grade 5 scholarship exams puts a lot of pressure on the students. What is your take on this? 

Yes, this again is another problem. Parents want these children to enter National Schools and put a lot of pressure on the children to do the Scholarship exam well. This Grade 5 Scholarship examination was started by Lalith Athulathmudali as the Mahapola Scholarship so that children from low income families had a chance of entering a National School. There is nothing much we can do in this regard other than to educate the parents on the damage that can be brought on by this type of pressure applied on children at such a young age. Parents need to realise this. 

Having some schools under the Provincial Councils and some under the Ministry of Education must be causing problems to the smooth running of schools. Have you managed to streamline the irregularities with regard to school admissions, teacher transfers, promotions, syllabuses and such? 

There are two administration in the education system. One is the National Schools handled by the Ministry of Education and the other is the area handled by the Provincial administration. We have 352 National Schools, which are controlled by the Ministry of Education. 

All the other schools, that’s about 9700 school are controlled by the nine Provincial Councils. So all the teacher and principals transfers, school admissions and all other administrative matters of these schools are controlled by the Provincial Councils. They have their own systems and we don’t interfere with them. Appointments such as Provincial Directors, Zonal Directors etc., are all handled by the provincial council with the approval of the Chief Minister. 

Policy making, supplying uniforms, supplying of text books, providing facilities and funds are done by the Ministry of Education. The job of the Provincial Council is the administration. People don’t understand this and all the irregularities related to admission and transfer are blamed on the Ministry of Education. According to the present Parliamentary system, the Provincial Councils have a lot of power and they are asking for more and more power. So how can we interfere when these powers are already given to them? 

Even though there are some issues with the administration matters of the  Provincial Council we cannot interfere with them because they have the administration power. 

What steps have you taken to standardise international schools? 

These schools are registered with the BOI. We don’t give anything to them so how can we control them? But on the other hand Education belongs to the Government so we need to have say with regard to the Education provided by these schools. That is why we need to check standards and regularise these schools.  At the moment we are having discussions with various parties who are experts in the field and also seeking the advice of the legal department to draft a constitution regarding this matter and present it in Parliament. 

The school uniform vouchers have been called a failure, is that true? 

Initially there were some issues but now this system is running very smoothly. With the previous system only a few businessmen earned money by supplying material to the Ministry. Now that system is abolished and we are supplying vouchers. This way the local people can benefit by the business. With this system 100% benefit goes to the student. The student can select whatever they want. It has been a huge success. 

What happens to the differently abled children in the villages? Is there some system of training teachers to be able to teach these children? 

All the schools will be having a centre for disabled students and all the schools will have a special education teacher allocated to them. 

As you represent the people of the Nuwara Eliya district, what do you see as the major problems faced by them? 

Compared to other areas of the country Nuwara Eliya is fairly under developed I would say, as most of the people living there are the plantation community. In the spheres of education, health, living conditions and economic status, overall it is not developed in spite of it being a popular tourist destination. So the government needs to improve the conditions in this district. 

People seem to be losing patience with the Yahapalanya government. Your comments? 

It’s been just two years since the Yahapalaya government has taken office. We have to wait for the rest of the three years before jumping into conclusions. I will give you an example.  If you have a fever, you are given an antibiotic. Within two days you can’t say if the antibiotic was good or bad. You have to take the whole course of 5 to 7 days to see the proper results. You cannot stop it halfway and say it was not good. So we have to wait till the course of antibiotic is over before we make judgements. 

Did you know? 

• He has been involved in the sphere of education in various capacities for the past 11 years. 
• He was elected leader of the UCPF on 6 September 2015. 
• He was educated at Holy Trinity College, Nuwara Eliya, St. Peter's College, Colombo and St. Joseph's College, Colombo. 
• He is married and has four children.