Multiplication table back to 12

Primary sector school children will

Students will have to memorise the multiplication tables

BANDULA

be once again required to memorise the multiplication tables up to 12 under the proposed changes to the education system, Education Minister Bandula Gunawardane said yesterday.

He said education authorities had done away with this requirement ten years ago under reforms introduced by a foreign organization and as a result, a generation of students without a sound knowledge of Mathematics had been produced.

“Now, we have to correct this mistake. In India, students are required to learn the multiplication tables up to 15 at Grade III. We will reintroduce the multiplication tables in our drive to impart a sound mathematical knowledge to students,” he said. The minister said he had participated in a workshop organised by the National Institute of Education (NIE) to discuss the preparation of syllabuses under the proposed change in the education sector.

He said students would get the opportunity to sit for the G.C.E. A/L examination under different subject streams in 2015.

“Students can do their Advanced Level studies under the five streams namely Maths, Science, Commerce, Arts and Technology next year and this means they will be able to sit the exam in 2015,” he said.