CTU general secretary Joseph Stalin, speaking to Ceylon Today, said Education Minister Bandula Gunewardena had made an individual decision to change the method of O/L examination.
He said that prior to making any changes in the syllabi or in any of the education system, all relevant parties should be consulted.
“Teachers and principals must be consulted before such decisions are made, as they are directly involved with the students and schools. Taking an autonomous decision is completely wrong.
Students previously had to sit for six compulsory subjects, and three other subjects of their choice. The compulsory subjects were religion, Sinhala, English, Mathematics, Science and history,” he said.
Students could choose the remain subjects according to their choice; A/Ls did not depend on the subjects one chose for his O/L, but now, students have to decide what they want to do and select the relevant subject stream during O/Ls itself, Stalin said.
He charged that making students prepare for A/Ls during O/Ls was a ploy by the government to encourage private tuition classes.
“The monitoring MP of education is the owner of private schools. The education minister himself was previously a tuition teacher. Making the students study for a particular stream during their O/Ls is making them go for more tuition. School life is not only about exams” he said.
Aisha Nazim
CT