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2025-08-06
News Categories : Committee News
The Sub-Committee on Education Reforms under the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, will be open to all Hon. Members of Parliament to submit their ideas and proposals regarding education reforms, stated Hon. Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Training, Dr. Harini Amarasuriya.
The Prime Minister also emphasized that after the subcommittee discusses the report being prepared by the Ministry on education reforms, the general public will also be given an opportunity to submit their views and suggestions.
These remarks were made during the first meeting of the Education Reform Subcommittee, held yesterday (Aug. 05), chaired by the Hon. Prime Minister in Parliament.
She also highlighted that preparations are actively underway to introduce a new curriculum for Grades 1 and 6 by 2026.
Members of Parliament who participated in the meeting pointed out the need to provide the public with a clear understanding of the reforms. Responding to this, the Prime Minister stated that a special public awareness campaign has already been planned. She further explained that education officials in eight provinces have been briefed, and arrangements are in place to conduct awareness programs in the remaining Uva Province soon.
During the meeting, discussions were also held on teacher training programs aligned with the new curriculum, teacher deployment plans for schools, and the approach to school infrastructure development. The Secretary to the Ministry of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Training, Mr. Nalaka Kaluwewa, also provided a brief explanation regarding the ministry’s development activities in schools.
The meeting was attended by Hon. Members of Parliament, Mr. Nalaka Kaluwewa, Secretary to the Ministry, Mr. Chaminda Kularatne, Chief of Staff and Deputy Secretary General of Parliament, Mr. M. Jayalath Perera, Director of Legislative Services and Acting Director of Communication, along with other officials.
2026-06-23
The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Education met recently in Parliament under the chairmanship of the Hon. Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Education, Dr. Harini Amarasuriya. During the meeting, Hon. Members of Parliament raised a range of current issues affecting the education sector.The Committee discussed several matters, including the need to introduce a standardized plan and model for primary school construction, administrative issues in assisted schools, teacher transfer-related concerns, the progress of school construction projects at the provincial level, challenges within the vocational education sector and future development plans.Following discussions with relevant officials, the Hon. Prime Minister instructed them to take immediate action to address the issues raised and to implement the necessary measures without delay.The Committee also reviewed the progress of the subcommittees established under the Ministerial Consultative Committee.The meeting was attended by the Hon. Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education, Dr. Madhura Seneviratne, the Hon. Deputy Minister of Vocational Education, Nalin Hewage, a group of Hon. Members of Parliament and officials including the Secretary to the Ministry of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Education, Mr. Nalaka Kaluwewa.
2026-06-19
The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Environment focused its attention on the issue of water pollution in the Kelani River when it met in Parliament recently (10th June) under the chairmanship of the Hon. Minister of Environment, Dr. Dammika Patabendi.During the meeting, the Committee was briefed on the progress of discussions being held with companies that have expressed willingness to invest in a project aimed at cleaning the waters of the Kelani River.The Committee also discussed a number of proposals and other issues raised by Hon. Members of Parliament.The meeting was attended by Hon. Members of Parliament and officials.
2026-06-18
A meeting of the Women Parliamentarians Caucus was held in Parliament recently to discuss the importance of incorporating Gender-Responsive Budgeting into Sri Lanka’s national budget formulation process and to examine the challenges associated with its implementation.The meeting was chaired by the Chairperson of the Caucus and Hon. Minister of Women and Child Affairs, Saroja Savithri Paulraj. Hon. Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya also participated in the discussion.A key concern raised during the discussion was the lack of adequate data and indicators to accurately assess and measure women’s economic contributions within the budgetary process. Drawing on examples of approaches adopted in India and other countries, members of the Caucus underscored the need to identify and address existing systemic and technical gaps in Sri Lanka’s budgeting framework.The Caucus also emphasized the importance of disaggregating data by gender in project reporting and strengthening digital data management systems to support such efforts. It was further noted that identifying relevant gender-related considerations at the initial stages of project design and implementation at the ministerial level would facilitate more effective project analysis, monitoring, and evaluation of outcomes.The need to move away from existing traditional and time-consuming methods towards formal online systems and data-driven analytical tools was also emphasized.The current progress and challenges in integrating Gender-Responsive Budgeting into Sri Lanka’s public financial policy were discussed in detail during the meeting.It was also emphasized that such budgeting should not be limited to nominal percentages in documents, but that the need to establish a formal framework and data system to ensure it has a real and practical impact was also highlighted.The Hon.Deputy Chairperson of Committees Hemalee Weerasekera, Hon. Deputy Minister Dr. Kaushalya Ariyarathne, Co-Vice Chairpersons of the Caucus, Hon. Members of Parliament Chamindrani Kiriella, Attorney at Law and Samanmalee Gunasinghe, Hon. Members of Parliament Thushari Jayasinghe, Attorney at Law, Krishnan Kaleichelvi, Sagarika Athauda ,Attorney at Law, Nilanthi Kottahachchi, Attorney at Law, Ambika Samivel and Lakmali Hemachandra, Attorney at Law, along with a group of officials from the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, also participated in the event.
2026-06-17
The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government met recently (Jun. 12) at Parliament under the chairmanship of the Hon. Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Prof. A.H.M.H. Abayarathna.During the meeting, Members of Parliament discussed a range of issues and proposals relating to their respective electorates, as well as several other matters of public importance.Hon. Members of Parliament and officials were present at the meeting.
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