Expert questions govt handling of teachers’ issue

After 16 months of school closure, with more than 50% of students not having had any form of continuous education, it was not advisable or morally correct to hold exams, Dr. Sujata N. Gamage, Senior Research Fellow, LIRNEasia and Co-Coordinator, Education Forum Sri Lanka told The Island yesterday.

She said that each examination should be assessed for its purpose and criticality. Whilst they endorsed the striking teachers claim for higher wages, what they wanted to highlight was the lack of trust and respect shown towards teachers by authorities.

“The latest is a news item which said that the Ministry has established a programme which calls on teachers and principals to issue weekly reports after evaluating students and appoints education instructors to supervise teacher performance on a regular basis. This kind of scrutiny on teachers is totally unnecessary and unacceptable. Teachers have been reaching out to students on their own since March 2020 without being recognized, rewarded or guided by the authorities,” the Senior Research Fellow said.

Dr. Gamage said that the education Forum was pleased to note that the vaccination of teachers was in progress, teachers need to be appreciated and motivated if they were to bring the children up to the required standard after a long break in their education.

“We urge that the Ministry to take the following action without delay to rectify the situation: recognise teachers for their initiatives during the past 16 months, compensate them immediately for additional costs borne by them during the last 18 months in carrying out distance education and paid a monthly allowance for future costs and trust the teachers to do their job.”

The government provided teachers with curricula including expected learning outcomes and teaching guides and 50% of teachers were trained at National Colleges of Education and the others were graduates.

Dr Gamage said Ministry should not dictate how they should teach and they should be judged on the performance of their students.

“The stated purpose of the Grade 5 Scholarship examination is to select students to award scholarships, but the exam has expanded since 1995 as an assessment of learning by all students. It is time to get the exam back to its original intention and mode. Grades 6-9 is a time for activity-based learning without pressure to remember facts for examination. Covid is an opportunity to do away with any form of examination for this age group. The GCE O/L examination is not as critical for Grades 10-11, except for moving onto a popular school. The exam should be postponed to 2022 and travelling long distance for schooling at this time should be discouraged. The GCE A/L examination is the most critical examination for students in Grades 12-13. Every effort should be made to give students adequate time and equal opportunity for preparation,” she said. (RK)