Guidelines for intl. and private schools

by S.M. Wijayaratne, Kurunegala Corr.

The Ministry of Education in a recent Gazette notification has emphasised that all international and private schools should follow the guidelines imposed with regard to the teaching of Mother-tongue, Religion and History.

These guidelines should be strictly followed by all international and private schools. Accordingly, international and private schools should teach the Mother-tongue, Religion and History to their students from grade one to eight, with effect from 1st January, 2015.

All Sri Lankan students of these schools should be taught either Sinhala or Tamil as their mother-tongue.

If the subject of History is being taught to students at these schools by now, that syllabus of History should comprise the History of Sri Lanka too.

The idea behind this is to establish national unity and harmony of students. These steps would strengthen bonds of ethnic harmony and brotherhood which may lead to lasting peaceful co-existence.