Daily school attendance a must to pass examinations

Education Minister Dr. Susil Premajayantha said that school attendance was mandatory for students and marks for attendance will be added to the examination marks in the future.

He said that under the new education transformation process, students should earn a certain number of marks by staying in the classroom, even for the Grade Five Scholarship Examination.

Accordingly, in the future, it is mandatory for students to stay in the classroom and it will apply to all grades, he said. In effect, daily school attendance is essential for students to pass examinations.
    He emphasized that education is not a process that can be achieved by gathering over 1,500 children in a hall and delivering lectures. He also pointed out that it is impractical to apply such teaching methods of lecturing to students in primary classes including students who prepare for the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination.

“It is not wrong to get necessary help in the learning and teaching process, but it is not a desirable situation that it has evolved  into a commercial-based industry. There is no point in having schools if parents have to suffer and send their children to tuition classes,” he added.

The Minister is of the opinion that parents who are facing difficulties in the face of current economic and social challenges should immediately avoid the difficult situation of having to allocate huge sums of money for their children’s tuition.

He also mentioned that the free education objective of running schools is fading away by commercialized tuition classes. He pointed out that such a situation is not seen in any other country and the existing concepts and criteria regarding early childhood education in this country are at a level that needs to be completely changed. It should be completely transformed, he said.