The Ceylon Teachers' Union (CTU) claims that the government is not adequately prepared to implement the new education reforms scheduled to take effect next year.

CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said teacher training programmes required for the implementation of the reforms have also not yet been completed.

The government has planned to introduce the new education reforms for Grade 1 and Grade 6 from next year.

However, Stalin said there is still no proper programme in place to ensure their successful implementation.

“Although these reforms are scheduled to be introduced next year, the reforms for Grade 1 and Grade 6 will go ahead as planned. However, the training of teachers for this purpose is still progressing slowly. These reforms are clearly a continuation of the reforms introduced by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government. They are an extension of reforms that were left incomplete without being implemented.”

“We also noted that, recently, the President had instructed the National Education Commission to prepare a policy framework specifically for these education reforms. We do not know whether the National Education Commission has completed it yet. It has still not been presented to the public, nor has there been any discussion about it, he said.”

He further said the reforms being taken forward were those introduced by previous governments and that they were being implemented without a proper plan. He added that there were still no clear indications of adequate preparations for their implementation.

He further said the situation had developed into a major crisis, noting that the existing education system already faced several practical issues. He stressed that the government should reconsider introducing reforms that failed to address those existing problems.