Education Minister Bandula Gunewardena has come up with a new solution to solve the nation’s Maths problem.   Soon, those who fail in Maths at the GCE/Ordinary Levels will get the opportunity to complete the subject within a time period of two years, instead of current one year period.

According to education sector statistics, almost half of the students who sit for the Ordinary Levels fail in Mathematics. It is indeed a very progressive move by the Education Minister to explicitly show that Math is not all.

One’s right for higher education should not end with Mathematics. There are brilliant thinkers, artists, novelists, musician who were hopeless in Mathematics but excelled in their chosen fields.

Therefore, the move that provides the students who fail the Maths module with a third chance for them to become eligible for higher education is commendable.
But, this move does not address the fundamental question of why almost 50 per cent of the students fail in Mathematics?
In a country where literacy and general IQ levels are high, what exactly is the reason for so many students to fail in mathematics?
It appears that the way we go about teaching not only math, but Science and English, in our schools requires revision.
Like in many other countries, learning Maths, science and a second language is not fun.

The fun in learning numbers, new formulas and strange words has long been vanished. The school curriculum is full of boring theories and the examination system is totally unhealthy in nature.

To make things worse, the teachers who teach these subjects in schools do not realise the fun in what they teach. The immense pleasure and satisfaction that is derived in teaching something that you know to somebody that doesn’t seem totally absent in the teacher-student relationship in today’s context.
Besides most of the teachers are not specifically trained to teach these subjects, if at all they have any experience as teachers, as training colleges, which were established for this purpose are no more.

Meanwhile, it is really unfortunate to see that those leaving universities, majoring math, science and English are not joining the secondary education system in the country.

Since these graduates are offered with employment, especially in the private sector, with better pays and perks, they have a natural reluctance in joining the public sector as teachers.

Therefore, by taking examples from places like Singapore, it is the responsibility of the authorities to make sure that qualified teachers are paid well. By doing this they will also be able to attract the right people to this noble profession who could distribute the seeds of knowledge to students with much vigour and enthusiasm.