Dearth of teachers to be solved soon

by Ananda KANNANGARA

Education Minister Bandula Gunawardane has assured that the dearth of teachers for Science, English, Mathematics and IT reported from various schools and other shortcomings in rural schools will be solved along with the proposed 1,000 secondary schools development program due to commence this month.

Minister Gunawardane told the Sunday Observer that Language, Science, Mathematics and Information and Technology laboratories will be set up in all schools for the benefit of 4.3 million schoolchildren under the secondary school development program which will be completed before the end of the year.

He said the Language laboratory would help children to learn Korean, French, German, Japanese, Chinese and other important languages apart from English which is a link Language.

The Language laboratories could help Sri Lankans seek employment opportunities in foreign countries and also make a big contribution to develop the Sri Lanka's tourism industry.

He said Mathematics and Science laboratories would help children to expand their knowledge on international trade, economy and also kept abreast of the latest developments in the field of science and medicine.

We will deploy more qualified and trained teachers in Mathematics, Science, English and IT in schools countrywide to check the teacher shortage and also modernise the school Science laboratories with sophisticated equipment. In addition, steps will be taken to improve the quality of aesthetic studies and sports of students to enable them to participate in local and international events.

The Minister also highlighted the importance of expanding the students' knowledge on international affairs and added that children in the globalised world should use computers and the internet.