School attendance a must to pass exams: Minister

Education Minister Susil Premajayantha has said that school attendance is a compulsory component for students to pass examinations.

“Within the new education process, being present in the classroom will be compulsory, as marks will be given for attendance even at Grade 5 scholarship exam level,” minister Premajayantha said at a function for 2022 scholarship winners of Most Venerable Niwithigala Dhammananda Nayaka Thera Commemorative Scholarship Foundation, in Ayagama Division.

He said this will apply to all other grades as well, where daily attendance becomes compulsory for students in order to pass exams.

“Education is not a process that can be achieved by gathering about 1,500 children in one hall and lecturing them. It is a complex process involving priorities like formation of disciplinary behaviour among children and multi-faceted skills and abilities development,” he added.

Additional tuition classes employing such lecture methods are not practical for children in primary classes,” he said.

“Getting a helping hand in the learning process is not wrong, but the industry has evolved based on commercial gains, which is not suitable.”

“The grave situation where parents faced with present economic and social challenges being compelled to spend a large sum of money for tuition classes must be addressed,” he continued.

Otherwise the aims of free education maintained by developing physical and human resources in schools, paying teachers’ salaries, and conducting teacher training sessions will be of no use, he pointed out.

“This kind of situation is not there in any other country.”