All primary schools open today, teachers ready

The primary sections (Grade 1 to 5) of all schools including government approved private schools will open today under the second phase of the school re-opening programme.

Under the first phase, the primary sections of schools, in which the total number of students are less than 200, opened on October 21. Accordingly around 3,800 schools were started on that day and 4,096 schools countrywide will begin today.

There are 10,155 schools in the country and of them 9,782 are provincial schools while the balance 373, are national schools. Majority of schools, which consist of primary sections are provincial schools and only the primary sections of all of these schools commence today, the Education Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said.

According to him moves will be taken to commence teaching and learning process promptly in all countrywide schools since school education was affected badly by the coronavirus pandemic unlike any other given period in the past.

He urged all stakeholders of the school system to follow and abide the health regulations given by the health authorities to curtail the pandemic. All in the school system are duty bound to adapt to the health guidelines.

Academic staff engaged in trade union action has confirmed that they will report for duty today and actively engage in the teaching process as usual.

(Source: Daily News – By Dharma Sri Abeyratne)