Crowded classrooms as Govt. absorbs 44,568 more students- CTU

The Ceylon Teachers Union(CTU) said, the Government’s move to absorb 44,568 students to intermediary Grades in National schools has created a spillover effect in the classrooms.

CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said that classrooms in popular National schools are overpopulated, with some holding as much as 50 students and above, which has created a difficult situation for the teachers.

He said the students will face a series of problems including less attention from the teachers and having to face tough competition at Grade5, due to raised cutoff marks at the Scholarship exams.

The Supreme Court (SC), in 2016, ordered that Government schools limit the number of students in a classroom to 35.

Accordingly, it was decided that, from 2016, the number of students admitted to Grade 1 be

reduced each year, so that, by 2020, Grade 1 classrooms will have 35 students each.

However, the recent Cabinet approval to take in extra students into intermediary Grades, in violation of the SC order, has resulted in an influx of students into these classrooms.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) recently granted places for 25,419 Sinhala students and 1,149 Tamil students to join intermediary Grades in National schools.

The vacancies were advertised in the National newspapers and on the MoE websites, calling on students to apply for schools of their choice, for Grades other than Grades 1and 6, in the 353 National schools.