Child friendly education system, Govt’s aim

by Ananda KANNANGARA

Education Minister Bandula Gunawardane last week highlighted the importance of introducing a child-friendly education system in Sri Lanka to motivate and encourage children in their day-to-day educational activities.

According to Minister Gunawardane, the child-friendly education system which is currently being successfully practised in a large number of countries will help children get more involved in extra-curricular activities and co-curricular activities, in addition to their general educational activities.

The Child Friendly Education Manual was launched in Colombo last week under the patronage of Minister Gunawardane and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Sri Lankan representative Reza Hossaini.

The manual is based on the Universal Declaration on the Rights of the Child. It has adopted six dimensions of the child-friendly schools concept and ensured that every school meet the rights of children.

Minister Gunawardane told the Sunday Observer that although this system is new to our country, it is now carried out in many countries and has given successful results.“The system will significantly improve the desire for learning among all children,” he said.He said the new guidance manual contains comprehensive information to help Lankan educationists in their endeavour of providing a conducive and interactive teaching and learning environment for children who are engaged in both school and higher educational activities.

The Education Minister further said the Government’s vision is to implement such a child-friendly school education system to provide a happy learning environment for children, especially those in primary schools.The manual has been published in Sinhala and Tamil and provides guidance on key aspects that need to be improved to uplift the quality of education in all primary schools.The manual could be obtained at http://www.unicef.org/srilanka/activities 7705. htm.