A Licence for Teachers, education Minister Signals

  by Sanath Nanayakkare

(From left) Mahesh Wijewardane, Director Marketing SINGER PLC, Asoka Pieris, CEO- SINGER GROUP and Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam present the 1st prize ( a laptop worth Rs. 150,000) to the winning student of Maliyadeva Balika Vidyalaya, Kurunegala at the national home science education event at the ministry of education

Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam recently said that teachers will need to have a content-specific licence in the future for the subject(s) they want to teach apart from their general teaching certifications because the government places teacher-quality high on the agenda.
The minister made these remarks at the education ministry auditorium where Singer Sri Lanka Plc. came forward to boost National Home Science Education for the second year, with its vision to empower young Sri Lankans with essential life skills.
"The government will introduce 'radical' reforms in the state education sector with a vision for the next 25- 50 years. We won't be intimidated by protests or vociferous noises. We will make the right reforms that prevailing circumstances demand us to make, come what may, for progressive transformation of the 4.2 million schoolchildren in the country. We will do things rightly or otherwise will leave", the minister said.
"Teachers' continuous professional development is highly relevant for improving educational performance, effectiveness and students' learning outcomes. In essence, a teacher's licence would reflect his or her 'updated 'competency in teaching a specific subject. This licence could be similar to the teacher's licence in Finland which recognizes a teacher's active engagement in his or her career with continuous professional development and updated subject knowledge," he said.
Referring to other reforms on the cards the minister said," All students taking the G.C.E O/L examination will be allowed to move on to G.C.E A/L if they so wish in an appropriate manner, without making G.C.E O/L a dropout point in their school life. The country is at a crossroads where we can't afford to waste any human resources. We need to exploit it to the full".
"We will act to reduce students enrolling in for Arts curriculum as the need right now is to lay emphasis on preparing our young people to the new knowledge economy, by empowering them with real work-world skills".
Referring to the widespread clamour for popular schools the minister said," "The government is committed to increasing resources to all 10,161 schools in the country. The central government will be responsible for 7,000 schools in this regard while 3,000 schools will be taken care of by the provincial councils. Now we have developed a database for all 10,161 schools through which we can examine and determine their resource requirements. It should be borne in mind that the national budget allocation for education was recently increased to Rs. 84 billion from its previous figure Rs. 16 billion. We are working towards realizing the goal "Nearest School-the Best School" in order to provide equal opportunities of education for all.
Commenting on receiving higher education while working, the minister said that an enabling climate would be created where students can study at university three days a week and work as they wish during the rest of the week.