New Act to control International, Private schools- MoE
View(s):The Ministry of Education (MoE) intends to enact a new Act to bring all International and Private schools under its purview Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam announced last week.
This follows Government concerns that some Private schools operate beyond their mandate and the MoE has no control over these schools.
At present, International and Private schools operate as registered businesses and are not governed by the State. The Madrasa and Arabic schools are registered with the Department of Religious & Cultural Affairs but they are not supervised by the Ministry.
The MoE is also oblivious to the Education activities or the fees charged by these schools.
The new Act will enable the MoE to overlook these schools.
The MoE is to initiate talks with the Ministry of Muslim Religious & Cultural Affairs, which has registered around 1,669 Islam ‘Madrasa’ schools and 317 Arabic schools in the country.
- CC