Education Minister Dr. Susil Premajayantha said that equipping children with knowledge and attitudes as well as skills is the purpose of education and that children should not be sent to schools to pass exams by building a competitive environment.
The minister expressed these views while participating in the national program held today (04) at Maharagama Dharmashoka Vidyalaya to introduce the Activity Based Oral English (ABOE) program to schools for children who will enter the first grade in the year 2024.
The Ministry of Education has introduced the activity-based oral English program in order to develop English speaking and listening skills in the first and second grade students of all schools in the island, and the introduction of the program to children entering the first grade this year was held in all schools today.
Although English is taught as a formal language in schools from the third grade, it is recognized as a need of the hour to provide children with English speaking skills from the first key stage of primary education and this program will be very important to bring children together with the updates and improvements in the school curriculum in the upcoming education reform process. Commenting here, the minister pointed out that there is.
The Minister said that the Ministry of Education has implemented training programs to prepare primary teachers of grades 1 and 2 for activity-based oral English teaching and under this, 13800 teachers have already been trained. Commenting on the release of question papers in school term examinations, the minister pointed out that even the moral level of those who leaked the question papers should be understood and the minister also mentioned that he will discuss with the provincial authorities in the next week and implement the next steps that can be taken to avoid such situations. .
The minister further stated that he hopes to reduce the weight of school children’s book bags and to stop measuring children’s knowledge only through examinations through educational reforms.
The Principal of Maharagama Dharmashoka Vidyalaya and many senior officials of the Ministry of Education were present on this occasion.