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Model school to take in cream of Kelani Valley students:

Govt to stop frenzy for popular schools

The frenzy among parents to get their child admitted to a popular school in Colombo, is one of the dreams for any mother or father. The situation has worsened with many parents shifting towards Colombo and the suburbs with the sole purpose of getting their offsprings admitted to popular schools in the city of Colombo.


An artist’s impression of Mahinda Rajapaksa Model National School

This is altogether an unexpected trend from the time of C.W.W. Kannangara, the pioneer of free school education system in the country - the man who had promoted the Central College concept to have at least one school in each electorate, equipped with both physical and human resources.

One of the challenging tasks before the Education Ministry at present is to reverse this trend and salvage the parents from the myth of popular schools in Colombo by developing one school in each Divisional Secretariat area for students to have better secondary education at a fully equipped school.

As a precursor to the program to develop 1000 such schools islandwide the Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena has embarked on a project to have a model secondary school with all facilities and thus put a stop students in Homagama and the Kelani Valley areas from trying Colombo schools for better education.

The school which is being built on a 20-acre land in Horahenawatta, Pitipana in Homagama will be named Mahinda Rajapaksa Model National School and will be ready for students who obtain high marks at the Grade V scholarship examination to be held in 2011.

"The Education Ministry is building this school in Homagama jointly with the Faculty of Education of the University of Colombo which will be a hundred per cent government mixed school", Minister Gunawardena said.

Unlike others the model school which will start at 7.30 a.m. and will go on till 3.30 p.m., providing additional two study hours for secondary level students from grades 6 to 13.

"Twelve grade six classes will be started from next year and the students will be admitted based on the high scores of the Grade V scholarship examination", the Minister added.

Minister Gunawardena has taken the initiative to provide the students with maximum facilities and the 12 classes will have three computer laboratories with 120 computers in each lab.

The timetable will differ from other schools. The additional two hours will be allocated for extra subjects.

"On Mondays normal subjects like maths and science will be taught during the two additional hours and on Tuesdays English will be taught", the Minister added.

Likewise additional hours on Wednesdays have been allocated for aesthetic studies like arts, music and dance while on Thursdays students will have the opportunity to learn selected foreign languages like French, German, Japanese or Chinese. On Fridays they will be allowed to engage in sports such as cricket, volleyball, football or any other sport, the Minister said.

"For this we have invited good teachers who will not demand additional payments for the additional two hours they work, to take over this responsibility.

Many teachers have volunteered to join to set an example to other schools.

"By this time, the Director Homagama Education Zone has received more than 2000 applications for admission and students will be selected after an interview", Minister Gunawardena added.

A reputed agriculture company has come forward to have agricultural site demonstration of latest agricultural methods including paddy field in a one acre land.

"Apart from this the Indigenous Medicine Ministry has come forward to have a herbal garden while the Printers Association will teach printing methods.

A reputed studio will have a photographic classroom. The Book Publishers Association will also have a book binding and book publishing classroom", the Minister added.

"The system had existed during the C.W.W. Kannangara period. Then there were carpentry classroom, pottery class room, weawing classroom etc to provide vocational training for students", he added.

"What we are trying to do is to bring back the 'Kannangara Chinthanaya' to suit the modern world with certain modifications. Because during that period internet, e-mail and computers were not there in Sri Lanka", the Minister added.

"Homagama is my electorate and I will not allow students from the Kelani Valley to go to Colombo for their secondary education. This school will lay the foundation to produce scholars from our own region. We are going to provide all the facilities that can be given to them. We are going to produce human resources with knowledge and human values through this school", the Minister added.

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