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Mother tongue, Religion and Sri Lanka history compulsory for International schools
BY KELUM BANDARA Oct 3, 2013 
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The Education Ministry sought Cabinet approval to make it compulsory to teach the Mother Tongue, Religion and Sri Lankan History in international schools operating in the country, Minister Bandula Gunawardane said yesterday. It is estimated that nearly 400,000 students study at these schools in the country. Most international schools train students for international examinations. Minister Gunawardane said he submitted a Cabinet memorandum last week seeking approval to introduce these compulsory subjects in the curricular of international schools.
“The authorities of international schools should take steps to teach the Mother Tongue of students and their religion, be it Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity or Islam. Likewise, students are required to learn Sri Lankan history,” he said. The Minister said there was a pathetic situation today with students at such schools being unable to converse in their Mother Tongue. “Mother Tongue education is all the more important at primary level. It helps develop the thinking capacity of students,” he said. Asked whether this would be applicable to foreign students studying at international schools here, he said, “They also have to study their Mother Tongue, be it Japanese, Chinese or Korean. They should also study Sri Lankan history.” The new decision would be applicable from January next year. Also, the Minister said he would introduce steps to regulate the 78 private schools in the country where there were 124,000 students. Source: Daily Mirror - Sri Lanka comments powered by Disqus |
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