ECONOMYNEXT – The government is seriously considering the re-opening of tuition classes throughout the country on January 25th when schools in the Western Province open, Education Minister Prof G L Peiris said.
Replying to questions raised by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa in Parliament today, Peiris said discussions are on-going between his Ministry and the Health Services to work out guidelines for re-opening the tuition classes.
Premadasa had earlier pointed out that there were around 25,000 tuition establishments in the country which employ some 300,000 teachers. In all about a million people were employed in this trade, he said.
He also pointed out that online learning had been a failure during this period as most children lacked the technological devices to access the classes.
“The children have been the victims because of these issues,” the Opposition Leader said.
He warned that there has been a breakdown in education and in the future there would be an imbalance in the job market because some students did not have the opportunity to access education and others did.
In his reply, Peiris said that the government was implementing a “fair and just program” to overcome the Covid pandemic.
“Online learning has not been completely successful in any country in the world. Even in the United States, the United Kingdom and France schools have been closed,” he pointed out.
He faulted the Opposition for finding fault in the government at this stage. “You cannot find fault when we are still at the beginning of our government as this Cabinet is only five-months-old. Judge us when the project is over,” Peiris said. (Colombo, January 8, 2021)
Reported by Arjuna Ranawana