The Hon. Nalin Hewage - Deputy Minister of Vocational Education

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, in speaking on the Heads of Expenditure of the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, it is vital to reflect on education’s role in national development. We believe priorities one, two and three must be education.

¶ 02 We are pleased that, after 25 male ministers, our country has appointed a woman as Minister of Education. The subject stream has now been structured on a scientific basis—Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Education—laying a strong foundation for the future. For the first time in history, a very large allocation has been made to education. Taken together, these indicate we can achieve a major qualitative transformation in education.

¶ 03 Lenin once said that education divorced from life and politics becomes hypocrisy and fraud. Education must connect to life. Another saying reminds us: one may rule a home as a fool, a village as a notable, a country as a king; but the learned and wise are respected everywhere. Education is the foundational base for health, ethics, law, and humanity. It is the “mother ministry” for all.

¶ 04 Some in the Opposition say “do not politicize education,” yet their leader politicized schools daily during elections with programmes like “Husma” and “Sakwala,” which have since vanished. Beyond such matters, the greater damage was conceptual: they exalted only sensory, visible development—tall towers, long roads, reservoirs, buildings—while suppressing rational knowledge. Media spread myths within education, harming the country. True education must integrate sensory and rational knowledge to create critical thinkers. Once we open that closed space, science’s light can enter people’s lives.

¶ 05 There is massive inequality in our school system. Past governments created many categories—national schools, supported schools, primary, bi‑media, zonal, cluster, isolated, beacon, popular schools—yet all contain only girls and boys, while the categories multiplied. In 2018, I saw a Galle District school with no students in Grades 1–3, one girl in Grade 4, none in Grade 5. In the Western Province, there are schools with 1–10 students (three schools) and 115 schools with only ten students. Such schools lack sports meets, pools, tracks, societies, labs, libraries—output is zero.

¶ 06 Sri Lanka has 10,096 schools and about 4.8 million people in school‑age cohorts. There are 14,022 GN divisions and around 4,991 wards; roughly 5,000 wards nationwide. Let us build 5,000 good schools—one per ward—with labs, libraries, facilities and teachers, each serving about 800 students. Then 4,000,000 students are covered. Transport costs, time wastage, and parental burdens fall, with children studying near home.

¶ 07 We have about 250,000 teachers; under a 5,000 good‑school model, roughly 50,000 would be surplus for training rotations. Give each teacher a paid sabbatical every five years to update knowledge and pedagogy, as knowledge advances rapidly. This requires major restructuring in education.

¶ 08 On vocational education: at Grade 9, with an exam and guided pathways, students should be able to proceed academically or enter high‑quality vocational tracks. Today, students avoid TVET mainly due to social stigma and inadequate incomes. We must restore professional dignity to trades like carpentry and masonry and ensure livable earnings. In many European countries, all professions enjoy respect and viable incomes. This needs a whole‑of‑government vision, not just education policy. We will bring sweeping reforms from 2026 to elevate vocational education and create a dignified, prosperous skilled workforce.

¶ 09 Thank you.