Editorial

Security

Politics

World

Letters

Sports

Obituaries

Archives

by Shanika Sriyananda Liyanage

A national policy on childhood will be implemented soon by the Social Services Ministry in a bid to improve the standards of pre-schools which are mushrooming in the country. Social Services Minister Ravindra Samaraweera said that the Ministry has taken this decision since most of the pre-schools are below stipulated standards.

According to Minister Samaraweera, a database to find out the number of pre-schools functioning in the country is not available since there is no registration system for such schools.

"We will commence registering the pre-schools and the teachers as well", he said. Under the proposed national policy, all pre-school teachers will be given a standard training on Montessori education.

"The pre-school education is the foundation for the quality primary education of a child. It needs to start from the pre-school teacher", the Minister said.

Minister Samaraweera said that the majority of pre-school teachers do not have the qualifications to conduct pre-schools. "The minimum qualification that the majority of pre-school teachers have is the G.C.E. (Ordinary Level) Examination. None of them have obtained Montessori training", Minister Samaraweera said.

These courses will be designed with the assistance of the National Institute of Education (NIE). "The NIE is conducting some courses for pre-school teachers but most of the teachers cannot join the course since there are some difficulties. The proposed training course will be given to every teacher who registers with the Ministry", he said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry will also conduct a census to find out the conditions prevailing in pre-schools. "According to reports, most of these pre-schools do not have even minimal conditions suitable for children as pre-schools have today become self-employment projects", Minister Samaraweera said.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager