Hon. (Mrs.) Samanmali Gunasingha
Hon. (Mrs.) Samanmali Gunasingha seconded the proposal and emphasized human development as a key pillar of the Government’s reform agenda, stating that education reforms were shaped through broad consultations and must continue through informed debate. She focused on teacher development, noting that teacher education curricula have not been updated for 16 years and calling for modernization, digital and smart-classroom training, improved facilities, and psychosocial support. She cited several 2026 Budget allocations for teacher colleges, the NIE, technology education, facilities, and capacity development, and urged critics to engage constructively rather than spread personal attacks against the Prime Minister and Education Minister.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I second this timely proposal and wish to focus on human development, one of the five pillars. Years of national dialogue — with the public, unions, educators, experts and academics — informed our policy. Despite obstacles, the Government has commenced reforms this year. This is an ongoing process that must be updated and intellectually debated.
¶ 02 Teachers are central. Yet for 16 years, teacher education curricula in faculties and colleges have not been updated. We must modernize these, provide digital and smart-classroom training, improve hostel and sanitation facilities, and offer psychosocial support. The 2026 Budget allocates: - Rs. 728 million for rehabilitation and equipment for teacher colleges/centres and NIE - Rs. 768 million to establish a National Institute of Education for Technology Stream - Rs. 2,000 million to improve facilities at NIEs - Rs. 99 million to upgrade teacher colleges and schools - Rs. 96 million for capacity development
¶ 03 Instead of intellectual discourse, some have spread falsehoods and vilified the Prime Minister/Education Minister personally. Criticize shortcomings, yes, but do so constructively. We will proceed strongly with reforms and ask everyone’s support.
¶ 04 [Deputy Speaker takes the Chair.]
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Thursday, 22 January 2026 ·No. 23203 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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/lk/speeches/22467
Cite as: Hon. (Mrs.) Samanmali Gunasingha. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 22 January 2026. No. 23203. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/22467