If Colombo is home to you, did you know that 50% or so of homes in Colombo are in tenement gardens or are illegal shanties. The children from these homes attend neighborhood schools of poor quality. These children attend a school close to home and go home without causing congestion or pollution. Not so with the National schools or private schools. There are about 210,000 kids attending schools in Colombo.
Let us recall this incident somewhat more in detail. Prof. S. Raveendranath, Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University, Sri Lanka (EUSL) was abducted on the 15th of December 2006, not from any part of the Eastern province but rather from a high security area in Colombo in the midst of his attending a science forum at the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS) auditorium at Vidya Mawatha, Colombo 7. His distraught family members immediately lodged a complaint with the Dehiwala police.
We received this ad from two leading theater personalities in Colombo. We are posting it here partly because of the insights it gives about our education system. Do our A/L kids really learn all this cool stuff? Can schools indeed outsource theater teaching to private professionals? Imagine the difference between book learning and learning from professionals.
      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.
Discussion Series on Education Reforms Series Objective:  To strengthen the participation of an informed civil society in education reforms Series Number:     3 Topic                    Decentralization of Education: What form and shape will enable a better education for children? Date and Time:    November 29, 3:30 -5.30 p. (begins sharply at 3:30) Place:                    Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, 100, Independence Avenue, Colombo 0700  Medium                Primarily in Sinhala (Tamil translations provided as necessary)  Agenda                 3:30 – 3:40  Introduction                              3:40 – 5:30  Presentations Panel (10 minutes each) §        School Principals (2-3) §        Provincial representative §        Ministry Representative                                          5:30 – 5:45  Questions to Presenters                              5:45 – 6:30  Structured Discussion with inputs from Teachers Associations, Past Pupils and education foundations and NGOs §        Curriculum, delivery and evaluations §        Human resources (deployment, training and recognition) §        Financial and material resources (including text books and uniforms) For more information or suggestions please contact the coordinator, Dr. Sujata Gamage, at coord@educationforum.
From the Education Forum to school toilets by Dr. G. Usvatte-aratchi (reproduced from the Island, Nov 21 2007, Midweek Review) No, nothing funny happened on my way to the Forum. Yet, November 15th was a bad day for me, as I attended the Education Forum, called forth by Dr. Sujata Gamage, at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, which I interrupted to attend, to hear Jayantha Dhanapala, a brilliant man of our times and place, address us on the good work of the United Nations.
University of Kelaniya is holding its economics week from November 25th-December 02. The announcement appeared in Lankadeepa but not in the Engish newspapers. There’ll be much to see and do. Seminars, book launches, exhibitions of students; outputs and even a musical show. You may call Prof.
IT IS a common misperception that students are work-shy layabouts. According to figures collected in Europe, Portuguese students are the most academically assiduous, spending over 40 hours a week at lectures and in the library. And even English students in higher education, seemingly the least likely to flick through a recommended text, put in over 25 hours a week. Yet an element of doubt remains. The estimates of working hours were supplied by students themselves, who may have considered time spent in the college bar as indistinguishable from any other period of study.
We reproduce the following story not purely for its news value, but it is a good starting point for a discussion on the differences in the aspirations of children and their parents on education. Things have changes dramatically from 1930s and 40s but do we still have to remind parents about the importance? ___________________________________________ Two school girls aged 11 and 9, assaulted by their drunken father, were admitted to Karapitiya Hospital. The father had beaten and kicked the girls when they asked for money to buy exercise books. The mother of the injured girls Roshini Sandanam made a complaint to the Yakkalamulla Police, who promptly took the father Kathiresan Subramaniam into custody and produced him before the Baddegama Magistrate.
You have been complaining about the state of education. Here is a chance to do something. Come to the Education Reform Discussions Series #2 on Nov 15, 3:30-5:30 at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute to get the basics.The President has instructed the ministry of education to drafta new Act and the ministry has appointed an expert committee. If you just sit there and do nothing, the expert will give their opinions, but the politicians and officials will not have what it takes to follow through and we will be back at square one, with the supreme court making education policy and regulation.