More schools to teach in English medium

By Yohan Perera
The cabinet subcommittee appointed to draw up a national policy framework for education has decided to increase the number of schools which teaches children in the English medium.   The decision was made by the committee which met with President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the chair on Monday.  

• President instructs education authorities to recruit 2500 teachers for the purpose   

It was also revealed that only 765 schools are teaching in the English medium though a system of teaching eight subjects in English was introduced in 2000. The subcommittee decided to increase the number of schools which provide education in English medium to 1000. The President instructed the education authorities to recruit 2500 teachers for this purpose. He advised the authorities to swiftly employee 1000 qualified retired teachers capable of teaching subjects in English, 1000 graduates who are competent in English medium through an open competitive examination. In addition it was decided to recruit 400 from colleges of education.   
Another major decision made at the meeting is to submit the National Council of Teachers Bill to the cabinet within a month. This legislation will pave the way to set up a National Council of Teachers. “The teachers will actively participate in the decision making with regard to issues pertaining to them while it will also pave the way to bring in professionalism to teaching and it will be responsible for teacher certification.   
The committee also focused on introducing a new salary scheme for teachers to keep up with the emerging trends in education.   
It was further decided to introduce a certificate of completion to every student who complete junior and senior secondary education.