Prime Minister and Education Minister Harini Amarasuriya told Parliament that the controversial Grade 6 English module has been removed following a recommendation by the academic advisory board of the National Institute of Education (NIE).
“Given the controversy and our assessment also that it is inappropriate, immediately after this came to our knowledge, this particular module was sealed and not delivered to the children. We have obtained approval from the National Institute of Education’s academic advisory board to remove this lesson. This was the recommendation of the ministry which was submitted to the academic advisory board, and this was approved and this lesson will be removed,” she said.
The Prime Minister was responding to a question raised by MP Nizam Kariapper.
Addressing concerns about student privacy, she said there was no violation of child privacy in the module.
Sri Lanka, she noted, follows internationally accepted standards on child protection and data privacy.
The Education Ministry does not generally collect students’ personal data, limiting it to emergency contact information. For specific programs, only essential details, such as parent or guardian names, bank details, NIC numbers, and mobile numbers, are collected, and only from beneficiaries. Any data sharing with third parties requires explicit written consent from parents.
“The activity highlighted in the Grade 6 English module in no way directs students to provide their personal information to any party. The activity concerned is a reading activity where the students are expected to read three simple paragraphs on three hypothetical characters—one boy and two girls who have been presented as from England, Japan and India respectively—and to provide certain specific information mentioned in paragraphs in the given space.”
She added that it is a reading comprehension task and does not require students to share any personal data. (Newswire)