The circular 208/17 issued by the Ministry of Education denies educational opportunities to students states the JVP in a press release.
The press release in full:
By the circular 2008/17, issued by the Ministry of Education on the admission process for students into Advance Level Classes, it has been made compulsory to pass English as a pre-requisite. Under this directive the students, who are already under undue pressure, have to face another obstacle. It is clear that this is an attempt to reduce the number of students eligible to enroll for Advance Level classes, since each year only 37% of GCE Ordinary Level students pass English as a subject. At the moment only 48% of the students who passed GCE Ordinary Level examination are eligible to enter the GCE Advance Level. As a result of making English one of the six compulsory subjects, of which 3 must be passed with credit passes would drop the rate of students entering GCE Advance Level classes to 30%. This situation is nothing but an extension of the prolonged crisis in the educational sector. By making this decision the government has made the situation even worse where the Education Ministry is incapable of undertaking general responsibilities like preparing and distributing textbooks, preparing examination papers and holding exams. Education authorities who make the English language compulsory and a subject that determines the right for tertiary education are nothing but mentally deranged. This is nothing but a clear display of the subservient nature of the education authorities to a second language with a colonial past. The percentage of GCE O/ L students who passed English even in the hometown (Tangalle) of the president is 27.4, and the lowest percentage recorded area in the country (Wilgamuwa) is 4.2. We vehemently oppose this directive of the authorities who are using the English language as a tool to clip the rights of the students. Hence, we urge the government to reverse this irresponsible decision.
Bimal Ratnayake (Ponnaya)M.P.
Committee for Education Policies,
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
LT
The press release in full:
By the circular 2008/17, issued by the Ministry of Education on the admission process for students into Advance Level Classes, it has been made compulsory to pass English as a pre-requisite. Under this directive the students, who are already under undue pressure, have to face another obstacle. It is clear that this is an attempt to reduce the number of students eligible to enroll for Advance Level classes, since each year only 37% of GCE Ordinary Level students pass English as a subject. At the moment only 48% of the students who passed GCE Ordinary Level examination are eligible to enter the GCE Advance Level. As a result of making English one of the six compulsory subjects, of which 3 must be passed with credit passes would drop the rate of students entering GCE Advance Level classes to 30%. This situation is nothing but an extension of the prolonged crisis in the educational sector. By making this decision the government has made the situation even worse where the Education Ministry is incapable of undertaking general responsibilities like preparing and distributing textbooks, preparing examination papers and holding exams. Education authorities who make the English language compulsory and a subject that determines the right for tertiary education are nothing but mentally deranged. This is nothing but a clear display of the subservient nature of the education authorities to a second language with a colonial past. The percentage of GCE O/ L students who passed English even in the hometown (Tangalle) of the president is 27.4, and the lowest percentage recorded area in the country (Wilgamuwa) is 4.2. We vehemently oppose this directive of the authorities who are using the English language as a tool to clip the rights of the students. Hence, we urge the government to reverse this irresponsible decision.
Bimal Ratnayake (Ponnaya)M.P.
Committee for Education Policies,
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
LT
