The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya - Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the Answers are as follows:

¶ 02 (a) Yes. The Government of Sri Lanka affirms its commitment to internationally accepted child protection and data privacy standards. In the education sector, the Ministry of Education generally refrains from collecting students’ personal data, limiting it to emergency contacts. For specific programmes benefiting students, only essential details such as parents’ or guardians’ names, students’/parents’ bank details, National Identity Card numbers and mobile numbers are gathered, strictly confined to beneficiaries. The Ministry handles such data confidentially in alignment with local and international protocols, particularly the provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act, No. 9 of 2022. Any sharing of student information with third parties for the child’s betterment requires explicit written parental consent, with all processes maintaining utmost confidentiality to safeguard vulnerable groups.

¶ 03 (b) Those involved in the Grade Six English language module possess relevant academic and professional qualifications such as Bachelor’s Degrees, Postgraduate Diplomas in Education and Master’s Degrees in the subject area. Components studied include educational psychology, second language teaching methodology, and second language acquisition. Recruitment to positions at the National Institute of Education (NIE) is based on approved Service Minutes or schemes of recruitment.

¶ 04 (c) The activity highlighted in the Grade Six English language module is a reading activity requiring students to extract specific information from three short paragraphs about hypothetical characters from England, Japan, and India. Students were not instructed to share personal information; therefore, no privacy policy violation arises on that basis. However, given the context and controversy, the Ministry assessed the activity as inappropriate. The module has been sealed and not distributed. The NIE Academic Advisory Board has approved the Ministry’s recommendation to remove that lesson.