The Hon. Mahinda Jayasinghe - Deputy Minister of Labour

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, these education reforms are a decisive step for the country’s future direction. This is a preliminary debate within Parliament — not the last word. Some in the Opposition have distorted facts; I will respond briefly.

¶ 02 On history: why do we learn it? Not merely to pass exams. History and aesthetics are for life and to build humans rooted in this land — not just to get As and Bs. In this proposal, history and aesthetics are not excluded. Those who sit for exams and those who do not must learn them.

¶ 03 On credits, as Hon. Chanaka Madugoda mentioned: there are five core subjects. Mathematics, Sinhala and English get three credits each; religion and ethics, two; history and aesthetics, two each — reflecting time allocation differences, as schools already do.

¶ 04 On early childhood: the Prime Minister has clearly stated the Ministry will provide guidance and steps for early childhood development. Not all centres can be run by the Government, but the Ministry will issue necessary guidelines for those run privately or by local authorities.

¶ 05 On a White Paper: the Leader of the Opposition asked yesterday; Hon. Bimal Ratnayake also detailed the history. This is a preliminary debate. A concept paper — call it whatever colour — will be presented. The present concept has already been made available via PDF and print.

¶ 06 The aim is to create a “full-option” child; to move from a single linear path to a multi-path education: academic and vocational in parallel, up to university and even postgraduate levels.

¶ 07 A Member erroneously claimed President Anura Dissanayake called some children “weak.” He did not. He explained the current process: children who fall through the school system are those who end up in vocational education. We intend to build a system where both academic and vocational streams progress to the highest levels.

¶ 08 Our policy statement “A Prosperous Country - A Beautiful Life,” adopted as national policy by Cabinet, clearly sets out our education policy from pages 10 to 19. We will adopt good elements from any past government and discard the bad. The modular approach is globally accepted for teaching and assessment.

¶ 09 These reforms rest on five pillars: curriculum, human resource development, infrastructure, administration/communication, and assessment. Six subcommittees have been appointed, chaired by our MPs. I chair the Education Council subcommittee on human resource development. We met on the 8th and will meet again tomorrow.

¶ 10 This is a major reform, not mere subject shuffling. To deliver it, we must develop the human resources — teachers and education professionals — of the future. Hence, the Education Council to uplift professional standards of all teachers — in government, private, international schools and tuition — determining qualifications, ethics and how professionals will enhance educational quality, and enabling our professionals to be recognized internationally.

¶ 11 Some have panicked, including a tuition teacher who insulted me publicly. But our intent is to raise professionalism across all educators, not to victimise anyone or to license everyone by January 2026. We will set a timeline; thereafter teachers will register and obtain licenses under defined standards. That is our clear position.

¶ 12 Finally, some try to sling mud over slips of the tongue, because they cannot accuse our Ministers or MPs of corruption or abuse of power. For 76 years, this country was mismanaged by corrupt rulers; the Supreme Court has spoken about economic crimes. We will end that era and build a prosperous country for all communities. We will not be deterred.

¶ 13 Thank you.