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| Sunday, 3 July 2005 |
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Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Life Competencies in schools A new curriculum with its focus on strengthening value education, ethics and civic consciousness in secondary schools has been planned by the Ministry of Education and the National Institute of Education. The subject named 'Life Competencies', which will be introduced for this purpose, will include ethics and civic education as subject areas. Project work and assignments will be introduced as a compulsory part of the syllabus and will be used to expand and strengthen programmes started this year. Skill-based assessments will be used to test these projects. Students will have opportunities for group activities and special assignments. The special programmes will emphasise concepts of values involving the home, family, school, and working with people of different ethnic and religious groups with cultural diversity. Civics and Governance, a new subject which includes ethics and values as subject areas, will be introduced for the Ordinary Level classes. School friendship societies, camps for clusters of schools and awareness programmes for trainee teachers in colleges of eduction will be strengthened, with value education as the theme. As a move to help teachers, supplementary teaching materials highlighting the values embodied in the textbooks will be published. Friendship fora and friendship societies will also be introduced at school and education divisional levels, to encourage students to participate in social welfare activities which would enhance their ethics and morals. Personnel are being trained at zonal and provincial levels to implement these activities. Such personnel will form a network that enables the flow of peace building concepts to the schools. ############# Pioneer projects in schools The Education Ministry is planning to make use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) to facilitate educational activities, from next year. With this aim in mind, the Information Communication and Technology Division of the Education Ministry will set up 1,000 'pioneer projects'. The pioneer projects will include 700 National and Navodya Schools and 300 other selected schools. The junior and senior students of these schools, including the Grade 1 students, will be familiarised on ICT, and trained to utilise ICT to further their eduction, Ministry sources said. The project will pay special attention to introduce educational packages to teach science and mathematics in schools. ############# Book by Primary student The Little Rabbit, written by P. A. Tharaka Perera, a Primary student of Kingston College International, Mutwal Branch, was launched at the Science Institute, Colombo recently. The story is written by Tharaka who has also done the drawings for the book. It is about a little rabbit and his family, and teaches children the value of obedience. Tharaka has dedicated the book to his elder sister, Jennifer Maheshika Perera, who, by writing her own story book, inspired him to take this step. The Little Rabbit has been published under the Colombo Children's Book Society (CCBS) UNESCO Project as part of the Children's Literacy Development Project of Sri Lanka. The CCBS was inaugurated in 1980 to develop children's literature in Sri Lanka. In 1981, it started a broad based children's literature designing project under the theme 'Books for the brain, as food for the body.' So far, the programme has produced 478 skilled, new authors on children's literature, trained 850 authors through various workshops, and established over 700 readers' societies and libraries across the country. It won the UNESCO International Award for the Most Successful Community Literacy Development Project in 1989, and was appointed Lankan representative for the South Asian Forum for the Rights of Child and International Child Art Foundation. Meritorious activities from Kalana Mithuru The Kalana Mithuru Children's Club of Siddhamulla, Piliyandala organised many meritorious activities as part of Vesak commemorations. Freeing several bulls meant for slaughter, donating a bed to the Cancer Hospital in Maharagama and school equipment and uniforms to Polpitigama Vidyalaya and Bhathigama Vidyalaya of Kurunegala, presenting scholarships to two students, helping the Siddhamulla Temple to put up a daham pasala and helping a family in the area to construct a toilet were these activities. The projects were organised for the fourth time under the guidance of Ms. Manel Abeysinghe, retired teacher of Royal College, Colombo, who initiated the children's club. The funds were collected from the members of the club, their parents and people of the area.The Kalana Mithuru Children's Club was set up by Ms. Abeysinghe to teach English Literature to students. Over 100 students from various age groups upto O/Level classes are members. |
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