VIDEO: ‘Historic injustice’ committed against rural children - Bandula

Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena today said that a “historic injustice” has been committed against the children of rural villages and that every previous government is responsible for neglecting rural schools.  

He stated that not only one government is responsible for the establishing of popular schools and the neglecting of schools in rural villages as it has been continuing for several years.   

Gunawardena stated that one of the greatest issues in the country today is that hundreds of thousands of unemployed O/L and A/L qualified students.

The Mahinda Rajapaksa government is the only government which took a policy decision that the discrepancy in allocating resources to the village should be removed, he told reporters in Colombo.  

On the decision to scrap the Grade 5 Scholarship examination from 2016, the minister stated that instead of putting pressure on innocent children and parents in rural villages a one-hour examination will be held to measure the standard of students.

He stated that this exam will increase the scholarships provided to intelligent students in villages while those who still wish to enter a school in Colombo, after the 1,000 schools are built, will be allowed to do so.