The Hon. (Dr.) (Ms.) Kaushalya Ariyarathne - Deputy Minister of Mass Media

¶ 01 Hon. Chairman, it is a privilege to speak during the debate on the Budget Head of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Education. The theme of this People’s Budget is “Quality, Equity and Excellence in Education.” Our education programme advances through five pillars: curriculum development; human resource development; infrastructure; educational administration reform, assessment and evaluation; and public awareness and promotion. As stated this morning, this Budget allocates more to education than ever before—Rs. 704 billion—15.71% of primary government expenditure, 7.84% of total government expenditure, and 2.04% of GDP. As the Prime Minister said, these allocations will progressively increase in future Budgets.

¶ 02 Given my limited time, I will focus on the National Colleges of Education (NCoEs). Moving from “teacher” to “educator” requires strong pre-service training, for which NCoEs bear major responsibility. Alongside salary increases granted last Budget and this one, we must invest in quality teacher preparation and proper deployment.

¶ 03 In 2026, we plan to deploy 236,129 teachers across 10,191 schools for 4.1 million students to deliver quality education. Sri Lanka has 19 NCoEs, with one more added in 2025—at Kuliyapitiya—built with generous support from the Republic of Korea (USD 15 million), supplemented by local funds. That facility had long stood idle; today it is operational. We have enrolled 210 trainees (we call them shikshanavedin) and will admit another 210 in March 2026; accommodation for about 650 trainees is available. With smart labs, e-library and a multipurpose building, it meets modern standards.

¶ 04 Currently about 6,400 trainees are studying across NCoEs. The Gazette calling for recruitment of 2023–2024 A/L qualifiers has been issued; we expect to admit 5,317 more trainees in February 2026. We have increased the NCoE trainee allowance from Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 10,500. After many years, we are also updating the NCoE curriculum—last revised in 2018—and aim to introduce the new curriculum in 2026. We recruited 580 educator-trainers this year and will fill remaining vacancies.

¶ 05 On facilities, in 2025 we could allocate only Rs. 389 million for sanitation, hostels, and quality improvements in NCoEs; this year we have allocated Rs. 521 million. For buildings (completing partial works and starting new ones) we have provided Rs. 2,000 million, with total recurrent and capital provisions of Rs. 8,604 million.

¶ 06 For Teacher Training Colleges and Resource Centres (in-service training), we have allocated Rs. 981 million recurrent and Rs. 402 million capital—for facilities and equipment—recognizing the need to raise the quality of in-service professional development.

¶ 07 We also prioritize digital infrastructure. Under the Prime Minister’s Digital Task Force, we are pushing education digitalization forward.

¶ 08 On the Department of Examinations: with limited staff and facilities, it has expedited results through a planned process involving its Organization, Evaluation, Confidential, and IT branches—from exam day to results release. This year, Grade 5 Scholarship results were issued within 24 days, and re-scrutiny within two months—much faster than the months-long lags between 2016 and 2024. We will further strengthen staffing and vehicles next year. We have already published the exam timetable for next year—so all institutions can schedule from term tests through O/L and A/L. Practical tests and assessments will commence before the end of written exams to speed processing.

¶ 09 On education reforms: reform is a collective process, not designed in a closed room. I ask all stakeholders to support us. We must answer questions about inequality, outcomes, workforce readiness, and youth life-delays. That is why we are advancing reforms.