STEAM to be added to school education system: Edu Min

Education Minister Susil Premajayantha says that the new STEAM Education System with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics blended with Art subjects will be added to the school education system in Sri Lanka, with the motive of providing children with the opportunity to practically understand subject theories and principles through simple activities.

The Minister provided this insight while participating in the inauguration of the STEAM Education Programme held on Friday (March 31) at Royal College, Colombo. He said that this new education method was derived from the National Science Foundation of the United States of America in 1999 under the name STEM – Science, technology, Engineering and Mathematics, which later developed and is widely known as STEAM with Arts subjects being an add-on.

This newest education structure will make certain that no child will be taken off their school education midway at any cost owing to the current curriculum in the current transformative education process, and will further create a friendly school environment where there is joy, and children learn cooperatively – building a sense of teamwork.

The Minister stated that children must be given opportunities to mix with the environment and to have practical observations at places like museums and aquariums, going beyond classrooms. A national science centre must be created and children must be given the opportunity to use it. Newly-emerging subjects like Nano Technology, Bio Technology and Gene Technology must be opened to children. The use of modules is the best support for it within the STEAM education system, the Minister said.

He further stated that these new educational methods will be implemented throughout the country in the future. School children in Sri Lanka will have windows of opportunities to acquire theoretical knowledge of the subject by engaging in intellectual conversations and discussions with scientists, professors and other scholars who are in Sri Lanka, plus, all around the world.