According to the government policy statement, provisions have been allocated to increase salaries step by step to resolve the problems in the teaching profession, and accordingly, the government’s expectation is to include the teaching profession among the top 10 highest-paid professions in the country, said Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government Mahachaya Chandana Abhayaratne.
The Minister said this while participating in the ceremony to hand over the new classroom building, which had been a long-standing deficiency at Nagamaduwa Maha Vidyalaya, Wanathavilluwa.
The Minister said that the recruitment of teachers, which had been delayed since 2021, has been expedited this year to address the teacher shortage in the country, and accordingly, the necessary provisions have been allocated to recruit over a thousand teachers. He emphasized that the competitive examinations will be held in the coming days and that these recruitments will be made transparently based on examinations and interviews without any political interference.
Pointing out that children have been deprived of extracurricular activities due to the current examination-centric education, the Minister said that the importance of providing children with life-saving skills such as swimming becomes clear when looking at the deaths that occurred due to drowning during the recent New Year.
Speaking further, the Minister also stated:
“We have initiated a new change in the education system by revising the syllabus. Under this, we will be conducting a national-level examination in the 9th grade. Through that examination, children will have the opportunity to pursue academic or vocational education according to their interests. For this, we are taking steps to improve about 50 vocational training institutions.
While previously those who had failed school education were the ones who resorted to vocational training, under the new system, both academic and vocational education will receive equal and balanced respect.”