The Child Rights Convention (CRC) explains how governments and international organizations have to work to ensure children are protected in their rights. Sri Lanka signed the CRC in 1990 and ratified it in 1991.The guiding principles of the Convention include non-discrimination; adherence to the best interests of the child; the right to life, survival and development; and the right to participate. They represent the underlying requirements for any and all rights to be realized. Article 23: The State recognizes “… the right of the disabled child to special care” and the right to “enjoy a full and decent life in conditions which ensure dignity” .

ඉසුරු වැඩසටහන මතුගමටත්…. ජේ්‍ය්ෂ්ඨ පාසල් වලින් ප‍්‍රාථමික පාසල් වෙන් කළ නොහැකිද? එහෙම නැහැ. සුපිරි පාසල් වලින් බලය විකේන්ද්‍රණය කළ හැකියි. ජනප‍්‍රිය පාසල් වලින් ප‍්‍රාථමිකය වෙන්කර අඩු ආදායම් ලාභී අධ්‍යාපන කොට්ඨාශ වල ඇති 150 ක් සංවර්ධනය කිරීමට සත්භාවයෙන් වැඩ කරන ස්වෙච්ඡුා සේවකයන් පිරිසක් පසුබිමෙන් සිටිනවා.

Through out the history of Sri Lanka, the decisions related to language education made by responsible decision makers, have pushed the country towards disputes, unrest, distrust among each other, lack of harmony and inefficiency in the competent world aiming towards a global village.  President Rajapakse’s annoucemnt gives us a ray of hope about a potentiality to change a generational mistake. Malathie Kalpana Ambrose       http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.

Malathie Kalpana Ambrose   Statistically we hold a higher state in education among the South Asian countries. Proudly we declare that our literacy rate is above 92%. But do all our children enjoy their right to education? How about the children in refugee camps in North and East? How about the children in remote areas where they have to walk more than 6km to the nearest school?

Malathie Kalpana Ambrose It is great to see that after ages policy makers  are realizing that the existing curricula has not been producing holistic personalities throughout the past. But realizing that fact itself will not be enough, unless the policy proposals bring about a vital change in to curricula development.   The following proposals were taken from the First Draft –National Policy framework on General Education in Sri Lanka prepared by National Committee  for Formulating a New Education Act for General Education, 2008. The proposals are for one of the key policy issues identified by the committee.   Curriculum Development Policy Issue І   Curricula developed for schools fail to provide a sound foundation that enables the youth to lead a successful personal and work life.

මෙම ව්යාපාරයේ ඇරඹුම සනිටුහන් වන්නේ එක් පියෙක් තම දරුවා වෙනුවෙන් නැගූ හඬ ලාංකේය සිසු පරපුර වෙනුවෙන්ම ව්යාප්ත කිරීමට සිතූ මොහොතකයි. මෙම ව්යාපාරයේ නිර්මාතෘ උපාලි චන්ද්රසිරිගේ සංකල්පනාවකට අනුවයි. උපාලි සඳහන් කරන ආකාරයට යහපත් අධ්යාපනයක් සඳහා අරගලයට මුල් වී ඇත්තේ සිය දියණියගේ අධ්යාපනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් මතූවූ අර්බුදයන්ය. නගරයේ උසස් යැයි සම්මත ප්රථමික පාසලක ඉගෙනුම ලැබූ ඔහුගේ දියණිය ශිෂ්යත්ව විභාගය සමත් වීමෙන් පසු තවත් ජනප්රිය පාසලකට ඇතුළත් වීමේ වරම ලබා ඇත. එහෙත් ඔහුගේ දියණියට එම ජනප්රිය පාසල තුළ වැඩි කලක් අධ්යාපනය ලැබීමට නොහැකි වී ඇති අතර, එයට හේතු වී ඇත්තේ ඇය කෙරෙන් මතු වූ ආබාධ තත්ත්වයක්ය.

Notice of Public Meeting on Recommendations for a New Education Act February 18, Monday, 2008, 3p – 5p Sri Lanka Foundation Institute Sri Lanka Education Forum has been hosting a series of meetings to identify areas of agreement among civil society organizations regarding recommendations for a New Education Act to the Ministry of Education’s Committee to Draft a New Education Act. The final meeting in the series is to be held on February 18, 2008, Monday, 3pm to 5pm at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. The Education Forum is a group of professional, academic, corporate and civil society individuals and organizations representing teachers, principals, past pupils, educationists, entrepreneurs and well-wishers in education. The participants are bound by their common desire to develop, support and sustain a system of education that contributes to cultural, social and economic growth while ensuring freedom of choice and equality of opportunity to all. Sujata N Gamage PhD MPA Coordinator Education Forum V 011-4979795 0r 0770774-8470 F 011-277-5212 E sujatagamage@yahoo.

The Education forum has conducted 3 study sessions so far with a good cross section of persons representing Associations of teachers, principals, and past pupils and  educationists and well wishers. Compilation of past legislations, circulars and Policy papers are now complete. Paper copies of these can be obtained for the cost of photocopying from Ms. Inoka Udayanganie at Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. Compilation of proposals from various groups into one document is in progress.

Submission of Proposals for formulating a New Education Act (Advertisement posted by National Committee for the Drafting of a New Education Act on January 17, 2008) On the Directions of His Excellency the President, the Minister of Education, Hon. Susil Premajayantha has appointed a National Committee under the chairmanship of Dr G. B. Gunawardena and comprising panel of eminent scholars in the field of Education to inquire into the Education Ordinance No.31 of 1939 and its amendments, identify aspects appropriate for the present and formulate a New Act for General Education in Sri Lanka.

            If you think people with disabilities never get ahead in life, think again! Some of Sri Lanka’s leaders in fast-track industries, including Information & Communications Technology (ICT), come under this category. On August 1, this year in New Delhi, 25 ICT champions representing countries including Sri Lanka were honoured as Fellows of the Jamshetji Tata National Virtual Academy (NVA), along with 600 Indian grassroots leaders, by Prof. M.S.