The Hon. J.C. Alawathuwala
Hon. J.C. Alawathuwala argued that if 13 years of schooling is to be compulsory, students should not be prevented from entering Grades 12 and 13 solely for failing O/L Mathematics or other subjects. He requested that the proposed education reforms, including revised subject streams, be implemented for about a year and then reviewed through the Sectoral Oversight Committee, given the absence of a pilot project and the need for wider public discussion.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, please allow me a brief moment.
¶ 02 We say 13 years of schooling must be compulsory. Yet we declare Mathematics compulsory, and if a student fails O/L Mathematics, they cannot proceed to Grades 12 and 13 — although sometimes they are allowed to continue pending results. If we provide 13 years of compulsory education, then we should not fail children out of school because they failed certain O/L subjects; they should still have the opportunity to complete all 13 years. As subject streams will be revised under these reforms, since there is no pilot project, Hon. Prime Minister, I respectfully request that you implement for about a year and then revisit through the Sectoral Oversight Committee. Society will have ample discourse by then. Please provide that space, and we wish you strength to carry out this task. I conclude.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Thursday, 24 July 2025 ·No. 1754026625097211 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. J.C. Alawathuwala. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 24 July 2025. No. 1754026625097211. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/18622