School Inspectorates in National, Provincial schools from next month
View(s):The School Inspectorate (SI) system is to be introduced in National and Provincial schools with effect from next month, after a delay of about 2 years.
“Cabinet approval was granted for the proposal recently, enabling the implementation of the plan,” said Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam.
The SIs will be under an independent body, affiliated to the Ministry of Education (MoE), and will operate under a Commissioner General. Nine Additional Commissioners will also be appointed to the 9 Provinces.
Their main tasks would be to send Inspectorates to schools and monitor and analyse the performance of the teachers in the schools, look into the facilities in the schools, obtain the views of teachers and students, and make recommendations to the MoE for necessary action.
However, the schools themselves, will be given time to correct their shortcomings, which could be addressed .
Thereafter, they will be able to report problems encountered by the Principals, teachers and the students, for remedial action by the MoE.
Those recruited as SIs will be full time, along with part time staff comprising former teachers, principals and professionals who have served in the public or private sector.
Minister Kariyawasam said that a study was carried out before deciding on the system, and one of the issues they found was that the current monitoring systems in school was not a uniformed system.
He said that the objective of the system was to have an efficient mechanism to monitor standards in schools.
The initial proposal to have this system was made by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, taking into consideration some of the foreign systems, including Australia and the UK.
- Damith Wickremasekara)