Year 1 admission procedure decentralised

by Rohana JAYALAL

The circular and applications for the admission of students to Year 1 for the year 2011 was released by the Education Ministry recently.

The new circular sees a major change in admission, with the decentralisation of the admission procedure. This new method ensures that the Ministry wields minimum influence over the admission procedure. The whole process has been handed over to the schools, making it altogether more transparent.

According to the circular released, the Ministry has set the key dates of the admission procedure; the final date for accepting applications June 30, the interviews to be conducted by September 15, the release of the temporary name list to be done by September 30 and the final date for appeals and complaints as October 15.

Appeals and complaints are to be accepted from October 25 to November 20 and the release of the final name list on December 1.

The interview panel will not be headed by an official of the Ministry of Education. It will be headed by the principal of the school. Provisions have also been made for the primary school headmaster, mistress, an experienced member of staff, a member of the Parents-Teachers' Guild and a member of the Past Pupils' Association to be included in the panel, Ministry sources said.

The Appeals Board for each school will include an official from the Education or Provincial Education Department and will be headed by the principal of a neighbouring school.

This year's circular remains unsatisfactory with regard to the admission criteria, with the percentage relating to distance, children of past pupils etc. seeing no change, said Ministry sources.

World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought

The United Nations' World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is annually observed on June 17 to highlight the urgent need to curb the desertification process. It also aims to strengthen the visibility of the drylands issue on the international environmental agenda. The effort to fight against desertification and drought does not occur only on this day. Many countries have been making a progressive effort in proactively addressing the issue and looking for solutions. World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is a global observance and not a public holiday.

On December 1994, the United Nations General Assembly declared June 17 the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. The assembly acknowledged that desertification and drought were global problems because they affected all regions of the world.

The assembly also realised that joint action by the international community was needed to combat desertification and drought, particularly in Africa.States were invited to devote the World Day to promoting awareness of the need for international cooperation to combat desertification and the effects of drought, and on the implementation of the Convention to Combat Desertification. Since then, country parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), non-governmental organisations and other interested stakeholders celebrate this particular day with outreach activities worldwide on June 17 each year.

At the rate many selfish people around the globe are polluting and damaging Mother Earth most of the land could eventually end up as desserts. We need to act today to protect more land becoming desserts in the near future .You too can help by learning about the causes of dessertification and taking preventive measures.

World Day Against Child Labour:

Goals need to be achieved fast

Did you know that this significant day which affects milllions of children the world over was observed yesterday in many parts of the world? This year's theme was Go for the Goal... End Child Labour. We surely hope this would become a reality soon, not later.

Hundreds of millions of girls and boys throughout the world are engaged in work that deprive them of adequate education, health, leisure and basic freedoms, violating their rights.

Of these children, more than half are exposed to the worst forms of child labour such as work in hazardous environments, slavery, or other forms of forced labour, illicit activities such as drug trafficking and prostitution, as well as involvement in armed conflict.

In our country too many poor children work for a living in various sectors, mostlly as domestics and helpers in wadiyas or quarries.

There were also many children who were forcibly taken by the LTTE as child soldiers in the past, but after the Government defeated the terrorist last year, these children were sent into rehabilitation camps.

With the last batch of ex-child soldiers being sent back to their parents and families recently from these rehab camps, our country no longer has to worry about the problem of child soldiers. However, child labour is a huge problem that needs to be addressed urgently, if the future generation is to be protected and their basic rights ensured.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the first World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 to highlight the plight of these children.

The day, which is observed on June 12, is intended to serve as a catalyst for the growing worldwide movement against child labour, reflected in the huge number of ratifications of ILO Convention No. 182 on the worst forms of child labour and ILO Convention No. 138 on the minimum age for employment.

The World Day Against Child Labour provides an opportunity to gain further support of individual governments and that of the ILO social partners, civil society and others, including schools, youth and women's groups as well as the media, in the campaign against child labour. Some of the themes that have been dealt with in the earlier years are Give girls a Chance: End Child Labour (2009). The Right Response to Child Labour (2008) * Child Labour and Agriculture (2007) * The End of Child Labour: Together We Can Do it! (WDACL 2006) * A Load too Heavy: Child Labour in Mining and Quarrying (WDACL 2005) .