The Education Forum held the first of its discussion series on education (in Sinhala and Tamil) yesterday, Oct 4, 2007, at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. The first featured presentation (Presentation_IUSF) was by Duminda Nagamuwa of the inter University Federation of Students. He gave a succinct presentation about the crisis in education cutting down an original 48 slides to 12 , respecting our request to limit the presentation to 20 minutes. There was agreement that we have a crisis in education, although we did not have time to debate the statistics presented. More important was the lively debate that followed on the roots of the crisis.
Viluthu is a center for human resource development focusing particularly on the HR capacity in the North and the East (www.viluthu.org). When the Education Forum held its first discussion on the proposed new education act, the featured presentations were by the Inter University Federation of Students, but the first presentation by the students about the Crisis in Education generated a lively discussion leaving little time for presenting Viluthu’s work on education reforms. We will post Viluthu’s recommendations separately but more important is the effort by Viluthu to raise the qualty of education in the Tamil medium.
I have been asked by Mr. R.I.T. Alles to accept the first copy of his autobiography, R.
The Education Forum together with the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute is initiating a series of discussions on new education legislation. The objective of the series is to maximize the participation of civil society in the education policy process — from making submissions to the expert committee at the ministry of education to informing and educating parliamentarians. Date and time:   October 4, 3:30 – 5:30 Place:                 Sri Lanka Foundation Institute Language:          Sinhala with Tamil and English translations as needed Following is the program for meeting #1 1. Introduction, 10 minutes    (Sri Lanka Foundation Institute and The Education Forum) 2. Education Reform Process, 15 minutes    (Ministry of Education) 3.
The Health Ministry will call for fresh applications from 750 overseas qualified medical graduates for internship appointments after the Sri Lanka Medical Council said its list was not accurate.The Council has informed the Ministry that the list prepared by it lacks precision. The Ministry said appointments will not be made based on this list which would offends students’ sense of fairplay and lead to legal action further delaying the selection process. The Health Ministry has decided to prepare a fresh list for this purpose and the candidates could furnish their applications today (03) at the National Blood Centre, Narahenpita from 9.00 a.
Education in the Sri Lanka Law College would be conducted in English medium by 2010. This decision was taken following discussions with the Students Union of the Law College, said Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva (PC).The Chief Justice was speaking at the celebration to mark the first year anniversary of the Sri Lanka Law College Foundation. He said there was a tremendous draw back in the legal education in English medium and this decision was taken to produce talented attorneys-at-law.
Moves are under way by Education Minister Susil Premajayantha to formulate a new National Education Policy which will consist of new rules and regulations aiming to find permanent answers to problems in the education sector.This was revealed by Premajayantha addressing the 38th death anniversary of Dr. C.W.W.
More than 46,000 or 16.29% of the students who sat the Grade five scholarship exam, failed to obtain even 50 marks out of the total of 200, the Department of Examinations has revealed. According to the Department’s statistics and analysis report, of these 46,000 students, 7264 obtained less than 20 marks out of a total of 200. Only 11.95% of the 283,737 students who sat the examination were able to reach the cut off mark of 150 for Sinhala medium students, and 143 for Tamil medium students.
Cabinet approval was granted to a memorandum submitted by Education Minister Susil Premajayantha to increase the number of Grade 5 scholarships from the present 10,000 to 15,000 from 2008. The Cabinet which met on Wednesday chaired by Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake also allocated an additional Rs. 25 million for the increased 5000 scholarships with a total annual disbursement standing at Rs. 375 million, Acting Minister of Information and Media Lakshman Yapa Abeywardana told journalists yesterday. Cabinet Approval was also granted to a Paper submitted by Plantations Minister D.
Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has taken an immediate decision to give priority to doctors serving in most difficult areas with dedication when granting foreign scholarships received through international agencies.This will be implemented from today, Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry sources said. The sources said according to this decision, priority will be given to doctors serving in most difficult areas when granting foreign scholarships sponsored by the WHO, GFATM, UNICEF and other international organisations. Ten most difficult hospitals will be selected from each district to implement this rule. The doctors who serve with dedication in those selected hospitals will be given priority when offering foreign scholarships, the sources added.