Need for clear official document to public on new educational reforms

A controversial debate is currently underway about a serious reform that is going to be implemented in the school education system in Sri Lanka.

- By People’s STRUGGLE ALLIANCE

The debate about these new reforms has arisen in a backdrop where the current NPP Government has not presented a proper clear official document on the matter. Such reforms have been presented from time to time over the past few decades, and no matter how regressive they were, there was always a document that could be subjected to a dear constructive debate.

The 1981 — Education White Paper, the 1988 — Kingsley Report, the 1993 ~School Development Bil, the 1997 — Jayathilaka Committee Report, the 1999 ~ School Review Proposal (plan to close 3000 schools), the 2005 — Tara Harold Report, the 2007 University Status Review Commission, etc. were all proposals that have been widely debated but, have not been implemented. However, in each of the above cases, no matter how much public protest the reforms were subject to, there was a specific official document presented that could be discussed.

The current NPP administration is going to carry out these reforms based on a PowerPoint presentation prepared only in English. It has already been seen that this will cause serious injustice and mislead all concerned parties who are willing to comment on this. Despite all these facts, such a document has not been presented to Parliament, however, a parliamentary debate has already been held on these reforms, with the President himself participating in it.