Teachers, principals up in arms against alleged NGO driven education reforms

Teachers, principals and education professionals on Friday vowed to commence a nationwide campaign against the government’s plans to reform the education sector at the expense of what they described as cultural values.

President of the All-Ceylon United Teachers’ Association Ven Yalwala Pannasekera thera addressing a press conference yesterday said that trade unionists would join forces to urge the government to withdraw its educational reforms.

“We are ready to form a common front with education professionals, teachers and principals against this government. We demand that the government withdraw these reforms or get ready to go home,” Ven Pannasekera said.

“Some modules promote homosexuality. Contents in some of the modules being distributed have been copied from Indian text books.

We ask the government to explain why it had paid the National Education Institute curriculum designers,” Ven Pannasekera said.

Meanwhile, representatives of 16 teachers’ and principals’ unions visited the National Child Protection Authority yesterday to lodge a complaint demanding a probe into the inclusion of materials promoting homosexuality in school books.

Concerns were also raised at a National Sangha Council meeting held in Colombo last week at the Colombo Foundation Institute, organised to discuss the objectives of the proposed reforms.

Addressing the gathering, Professor Venerable Induragare Dhammaratana Thera said the reforms required extensive discussion, consultation with subject experts and consideration of the experience of senior administrators.

He warned that the proposed education reforms could trigger the biggest crisis currently facing the country. “Implementing these reforms in this manner will harm future generations and could even destroy the present government,” he said, likening the process to “forcing a round peg into a square hole.”

The Ministry of Education on Friday decided not to extend school hours for the 2026 academic year, citing the ongoing impact of recent disasters on schools and transport systems in several provinces.

According to the Ministry, school hours for Grades 5 to 13 will remain unchanged at 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. until both education and transport networks are fully restored.

Government schools, government-approved private schools, and pirivenas are set to begin the first term of 2026 on January 5. Students in Grades from 6 to 13 will have seven 45-minute periods a day.

Education reforms will be introduced for Grades 1 and 6 in 2026.

The Ministry confirmed that activity books for Grade 1 and learning modules for Grade 6 will be distributed before lessons begin. Textbooks for all other grades have already been fully handed out.Meanwhile, the remaining sessions of the 2025 G.C.E. Advanced Level examination are scheduled to take place from January 12 to January 20, 2026.

by Chaminda Silva ✍️

The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society will provide relief funds totaling Rs. 2,420 million to assist 20,000 families displaced and 8,000 families who have lost their livelihoods due to cyclone Ditwah.

Accordingly, the Society has arranged to give Rs. 1,620 million to 20,000 displaced families, at the rate of Rs. 85,000 per family, and Rs. 800 million to 8,000 families who lost their livelihoods, at Rs. 100,000 per family, Sri Lanka Red Cross Communications Head Navindra Senarathne told the Sunday Island on Friday.

He said the funds for the 20,000 displaced families would be distributed in three instalments.

A total of 20,000 families across the country, including 1,505 families in the Trincomalee District, have been selected for this relief, with beneficiaries identified by the decision-makers of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society, he added.

In addition, the Society is preparing to install toilet systems in 400 safe centers and provide 15,000 sets of school equipment worth Rs. 7.5 million, Navindra Senarathne told the Sunday Island.

By Sirimantha Rathnasekera ✍️