
The Education Ministry has formulated a new system where teachers serving in a government school can enroll their child in the same school, but it will be 'more methodical' than the one in place now, Deputy Minister Madura Seneviratne said.
The previous system was to allow teachers in national schools to enroll their children in the school they were teaching after completing three years of service, without checking whether there were vacancies in the school, he claimed.
This led to problems due to students being admitted to schools in excess, he said. The new circular has enabled national school teachers to apply for a school in the area they work after completing one year of service, but the admission will depend on the number of available vacancies.
Continued from Page 1 He said several problems arise when the number of students in a class exceeds the recommended amount. He said that there is a Supreme Court decision that the maximum number of students for primary classes is 40, and a decision has been given on a fundamental rights petition that the number of students from Grade 6 onwards should not exceed 45. He added that due to the irregular admissions, the number of students in a class in some schools has reached 55-60.
“This is problematic for implementing new educational reforms. However, if students are admitted beyond the limit of 45, there may be demands from various professional groups and various parties, as well, to admit students to the previous limit for competitive schools,” he said. Under the previous system, seven professional groups were allowed to admit students regardless of the maximum number of students in a class. Therefore, when admitting more than 45, consideration should be given to those other professional groups as well.
Several requests have been received from university professors and internal staff of the ministry for admitting students to Grade 2. A problem has also arisen during teacher transfers due to teachers staying in popular schools hoping to enroll students. Teacher transfers are also being done in an irregular manner. The teachers are making requests only to a limited number of schools, he said. (DWI)