Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa on Friday said the opposition is not against education reforms, but strongly opposes what he described as the “vulgarisation” of education under the government’s proposed changes.
Speaking at an event held under the “Husma” programme at the Kitulgala Base Hospital, Premadasa said the opposition had never objected to reforms at Grades 1 and 6, but had raised concerns over the inclusion of content that he claimed was inappropriate and harmful to the education system.
“We are not opposing education reforms. What we oppose is the attempt to vulgarise education. The opposition has always called for transformative change in education, not its degradation,” he said.
Premadasa made these remarks while participating in the donation of medical equipment worth Rs. 3.3 million to the Kitulgala Base Hospital, including a CTG machine, a baby warmer and two patient monitors.
Responding to recent remarks by Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, the Opposition Leader criticised the government for attempting to implement education reforms without proper consultation or a structured process. He alleged that the reforms were being pushed forward in a disorderly manner, without green papers, white papers or meaningful stakeholder discussions.
“There is no proper framework. Instead of green papers or white papers, there is only a PowerPoint presentation. That is not how national education reforms should be carried out,” he said.
Premadasa also accused the government of ridiculing previous opposition-led initiatives aimed at improving education, including proposals to strengthen English language education and expand access to Chinese, Japanese and Hindi language learning.
He reiterated that while curriculum development requires extensive groundwork, such efforts appeared to be absent in the current reform process, resulting in serious shortcomings. He said that if the process had been handled properly, controversial and inappropriate elements would not have found their way into the proposed syllabus.
The Opposition Leader also said his continued involvement in donating medical equipment to state hospitals was aimed at easing the suffering of patients and improving healthcare outcomes. He added that although he had previously served in government, this was the first time he was contributing to national development while in opposition.
“All these efforts are aimed at improving the quality of life and increasing the life expectancy of our people,” Premadasa said. (Newswire)