The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition

¶ 01 Hon. Prime Minister, you accept there was an irregularity in module preparation and are conducting an inquiry. While the NIE Director-General has been temporarily relieved of duties pending inquiry, you have not addressed others: the Deputy Director-General of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, the official overseeing English academic work, and officials who prepared the problematic module. There’s no mention of accountability for them.

¶ 02 Some countries now set age limits for internet access. The inclusion of inappropriate material in that module involved not only the DG but many officials. Your Answer suggests everything is now corrected, but more errors remain. As Hon. Rohini Kavirathna noted, there are many deficiencies. I highlight a serious one: in the “Religious and Moral Education – Buddhism” module, instead of the Dharma Chakra, the Ashoka Chakra has been included. This is serious. I will table the copies I have. Please correct these errors, and state whether an advisory council on religious affairs approved this. What is shown is not the State Emblem’s Dharma Chakra.

¶ 03 Please subject these reforms to structured consultation and dialogue to get them right. While we support necessary, modernizing reforms and new technology, we do not agree with removing History from optional subjects. Correct these errors, including replacing the Ashoka Chakra with the proper Dharma Chakra and fixing those pages.