Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya says education is not a commodity and that it has been changed into a transaction, stressing that the culture that considers education as a transaction must be changed.
The Prime Minister further said that policies should be formulated and decisions should be made based on data that is in the best interest of school children.
PM Amarasuriya added that officials should deal with the public humanely as a group providing public services.
PM Harini Amarasuriya, the Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, made these remarks while participating in a workshop held under the theme “Preparing relevant strategies to transform the existing education system” at the Colombo Foundation Institute yesterday.
Based on the points, included in the new government’s policy statement, many important issues needed to bring about a new transformation in the educational stages from early childhood development to higher education and vocational education were discussed here.
“We must understand that education is a transformative thing. Beyond acquiring knowledge, there must be an individual transformation, as well as, a social transformation as a collective. We must have an education system that can build that transformation. We must be able to see that children have opportunities to open up to the world. We must feel a sense of social responsibility. We must not only develop personally but also as a society. We must feel that we must have social responsibility for that. Knowledge and skills must also be acquired through it.
“Education is not a commodity. We have turned education into a transaction. The culture that considers education as a transaction must be changed. We do not invest in education expecting results in a week or two. This is a long-term investment, the government is making that investment. The Ministry of Education and the institutions under it should become the place where policy decisions regarding education are made. Those policies and decisions should be made based on data. Decisions cannot be made based on personal opinions or feelings. We need a system to collect data and maintain data.
“Officers should have empathy. We see that people who come expecting a service are crying. There are allegations that officers do not listen, do not speak properly, do not answer when a question is raised, and have been idle for years,” she said.
Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya further said that steps should be taken to stop this system.
Deputy Minister of Education Dr. Madura Seneviratne, Secretary to the Ministry of Education Nalaka Kaluwewa and a group of education professionals participated in this event. (Newswire)
