Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I will take more time. No problem.

¶ 02 We had only a very short time to study the Government’s PowerPoint presentation. Nevertheless, I intend to present several issues and points we have understood. There are a number of matters in this PowerPoint that must be corrected. In particular, there is no clarity on strategic and operational aspects. Rather than detailed reform strategies, we saw a visually appealing wish list, with little clarity on practical implementation and timelines. There are also delays in implementation. Reforms initiated in 1999 were piloted in 2000, implemented in 2018, and now we are told we can expect tangible results only by 2029. That means, by then, more than half of the current school cohort will not benefit. Reforms for early childhood and pre-school education are also not clearly articulated.

¶ 03 We heard much about the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination being abolished, but the Hon. Prime Minister clearly stated during discussions that it will not be abolished. That is good news.

¶ 04 Furthermore, this plan does not pay due attention to upgrading rural schools. Nor is there sufficient attention to STEM. Out of about 3,000 schools offering A/L, only about 1,000 provide STEM education. How then will we strengthen the required teacher cadre in time? There is no clear plan for teacher-training infrastructure. Are 19 science faculties, 30 education service centres, and 100 teacher centres sufficient to operationalize this transformation? According to the presentation, teacher welfare has also been overlooked. For this transformational journey, everyone in the school sector—non-academic staff, teachers, principals, and teacher advisors—must be included.