The approval has been received to award equal status of NVQ 6 for Higher National Diploma in Quantity Survey (HNDQS) and Higher National Diploma in English (HNDE) conducted by Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technological Education (SLIATE).
At the meeting of Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission (TVEC) bearing the No. 2025/05/303 held on 8 th of July, 2025, it was decided that the above two courses are compliant with the standards of NVQ 6 level and accordingly the students who successfully completed the courses Higher National Diploma in Quantity Survey (HNDQS) and Higher National Diploma in English (HNDE) can send their applications together with a copy of final certificate certified by the Director / Principal / Director General of SLIATE including a fee of Rs. 1000.00 for issuing the certificate equal to NVQ 6 level. The relevant circular will be implemented from 09.07.2025.
An awareness meeting for the Members of Parliament about the proposed new education reforms was held today (22) at the parliamentary premises with the participation of The Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasooriya.
Expressing views at this occasion Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasooriya said,
There has been a high enthusiasm as well as a considerable debate in the society over the proposed new education reforms that have been planning for the implementation by our government. It is very important to have a social dialogue about this nationally important program.
Therefore, with the realization of the necessity of you all as Members of Parliament to work with correct understanding about the proposed new education reforms, today this meeting is held as one step of making you aware of this and obtaining your suggestions and views on this program.
We are ready to listen to your views and suggestions about new education reforms after providing a detailed document prepared about proposed new education reforms to you and also making you aware of new education reforms, said The Prime Minister.
After the Prime Minister’s explanation of basic facts, The Deputy Director of National Institute of Education Dr. Darshana Samaraweera provided a detailed audio-visual presentation to the members of parliament who had attended the meeting.
After that, several government and opposition members of parliament including The Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa, Sivagnanam Sridharan, Ajith P. Perera, Rohini Kawirathna, Dr. Harsha De Silva and Dayasiri Jayasekara presented their ideas and the government and opposition members of parliament said that doing an education reform is a contemporary requirement and their support is extended to the positive factors of the education reforms that the present government is preparing to introduce.
The majority of the members of parliament drew their attention mainly to the necessity of drawing more attention to areas like using English language as a medium, expansion of English language and provision of maximum human resources necessary for education. The answers for their questions on education reforms were provided by The Prime Minister, The Secretary of the Ministry of Education and the Deputy Director of National Institute of Education.
Further expressing the ideas, The Prime Minister said,
The revision of curricula and the education reform is not one and the same thing but two separate things and the Prime Minister pointed out that this time it is a changing of present education system itself and it is a process scheduled to be done in step by step within a considerable expansion of time very carefully but not in a hurry.
The first stage of this will be implemented in 2026 for the students in grade one and grade six and considering the responses received from it, the process will be continued doing necessary changes. The Prime Minister further pointed out that the new education reforms are implemented in a new approach in comparison to the former education reforms and the proposed education reform process is based on a five pillars namely, curriculum development, human resource development, infrastructure in the field of education, reforms in the education administrative structure, evaluation and assessment process and propaganda and sensitizing people.
The Prime Minister listened carefully to all the presentations and raised questions of all government and opposition members of parliaments and provided proper answers and said that this kind of sensitizations will be done in the future also and her attention will be drawn to the suggestions and views presented by members of parliament and expressed her thanks for providing those particulars.
The Members of parliament representing the government and the opposition, the secretary to the Prime Minister Mr. Pradeep Saputhanthri, the secretary of the Ministry of Education Mr. Nalaka Kaluwewa and a team of officers from National Institute of Education attended this meeting.
– The Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr. Madhura Senevirathna
The Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr. Madhura Senevirathna stated that his special attention has been drawn to create a learning environment devoid of stress for teacher trainees in National Colleges of Education and to launch a plan of action for the quality development of National Colleges of Education. He expressed this while addressing a discussing held at the Ministry of Education, Battaramulla for the presidents of the National Colleges of Education.
The Presidents of all National Colleges of Education in the island participated in this discussion and they had the opportunity to discuss about academic and nonacademic problems and the issues relating to the infrastructure development of each college. The Deputy Minister said that his special attention will be drawn to the issues not considered so far to create a quality learning environment for teacher trainees and quick solutions will be provided to the Colleges of Education where special issues are prevailing, after making an observation tour.
Further expressing ideas at this occasion, the Minister said,
Creating a free learning environment for teacher trainees and taking steps for their mental wellbeing is an investment for the future. Because they are people who go to the students as school teachers in the future. We are already taking steps to strengthen counselling services to improve their mental health.
The Chief Commissioner for Teacher Education Ms. Iroshini K. Paranagama and a team of officers from the Ministry of Education had attended in this occasion.
The occasion of officially declaring the completion of the donation of total quantity of cloths to the value of 5,171 million Rupees necessary for school uniforms for the year 2025 donated by the Chinese government, was held on 16 th of July at the Ministry of Education, Battaramulla with the participation of the Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education Dr. Harini Amarasooriya.
The exchange of certificates related to the declaration of finalizing the donation of total requirement of uniforms for the year 2025 was happened between The Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasooriya and The Ambassador of China in Sri Lanka Mr. Qi Zhenhong.
By this time, a request has been made to the embassy of People’s Republic of China in Sri Lanka through the Department of Foreign Resources for taking actions to donate school uniforms necessary for the year 2026.
Expressing views at this occasion, The Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education Dr. Harini Amarasooriya said that there is a long-term collaborative friendship between Sri Lanka and China. This donation of school uniforms provided for the children in our schools is also one step of that long-term friendship.
The government of China has provided a considerable amount of national requirement of school uniforms in 2023 and 2024 and in 2025 the total requirement of school uniforms has been provided for children in our country. The donation provided by the government of China for the education of children in our country is highly valuable for us in a period of very difficult time for Sri Lanka.
Our government has already made a request from the government of China asking for the continuous support also for the year 2026. And also on behalf of the children and parents in our country, I express my thankfulness to the government and the people of China.
Expressing ideas in this occasion The Ambassador of China in Sri Lanka Mr. Qi Zhenhong said that,
China takes action as your confident comrade as well as the supporter whenever Sri Lanka needs it. The children are not only the future of this country but also the inheritors of the friendship between China and Sri Lanka.
Every stich of their uniform will tell the story of the mutual cooperation between our two ancient civilizations. I highly appreciate the dedication and contribution of The Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasooriya for the education of this country.
A team of officers from the embassy of China in Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Education participated in this occasion.
The Minister of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Education, The Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasooriya stated in the parliament on the 09 th of July that it is scheduled to amend the curriculum for the improvement of technological and vocational education within school education system under new educational reforms in 2026.
Under these new revisions it is scheduled to introduce vocational subject streams for grades 10 and 11 and these vocational subjects will be introduced for grades 10 and 11 as a group subject, accordingly the students will be able to obtain the NVQ 4 certificate after studying vocational subject for four school years from grade 10.
The development of curriculum and modules for this purpose is being done by the National Institute of Education at the moment and through this it is expected to increase the current number of schools 609 where advanced level vocational subjects are taught, up to 1000, the Minister said.
An initial draft is being prepared while holding meetings with all partners related to that field with the assistance of Asian Development Bank in relation to that section to prepare a strategic plan for the purpose of improving the field of technological and vocational education after school education and by the coming September the complete draft will be submitted, the Minister said.
Under that plan for the purpose of teacher training and infrastructure development for the field of technological and vocational education, the actions will be taken to recruit new teachers and train them through teachers’ colleges to teach vocational subjects in grades 10 and 11.
The Minister stated in the parliament that it is scheduled to implement a series of teacher capacity building programs annually within the next five years for the teachers who have already been appointed to teach vocational subject streams, providing them with contemporary trends and experiences in various vocational fields with the assistance from the field of industries and the vocational subject stream will be reviewed again according to the current trends in the same subject field and to finish the inclusion of necessary changes in subject modules within the years 2026 and 2027.
Within this year the program for providing sanitary towels to school girl children – 2025 is implemented coming to the schools by only 4 institutions registered in Sri Lanka Standards Institution that have obtained SLS – 1732/2022 certificate.
Those institutions come to the schools and provide sanitary towels to girl students and the sanitary towels cannot be bought from any other institution except those institution.
The Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education Dr. Harini Amarasooriya
The Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education Dr. Harini Amarasooriya said to take necessary recommendations and actions to prevent all kinds of ragging, harassments and violence prevailing in the university system and other higher educational institutions. She mentioned this at the discussion held today (02) at the Ministry of Education with the National Task Force for the prevention of all kinds of ragging, harassments and violence in the higher educational institutions.
The Minister said at this occasion that the necessary power and assistance of the state will be provided to this task force that has been appointed for 3 years to investigate and to take necessary actions in relation to all kinds of ragging, harassments and violence happening from the students, academic and non-academic staffs in the university system and other higher educational institutions.
The representatives of the task force pointed out at this occasion that there are personal as well as social reasons affecting for these violent actions and several other matters such as not having proper relationship between students and educational administration, academic and non-academic staff, wrong attitudes of the students about the ragging and using violence for gaining submission and respect, were also explained by the representatives. The attention was drawn at this occasion to the matters such as the influences made by the management and the teachers in the university system when offering marks and classes to the students making them depressed.
The Minister of Education Dr. Harini Amarasooriya said at this occasion that the necessary shot-term and long-term measures must be taken to prevent all kinds of harassments and to prepare necessary methods and mechanisms for this purpose and as this cannot be ended only through legal procedures, while updating the present laws the programs such as attitude development must be organized.
The Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr. Madhura Senevirathna stated at this occasion that the attention must be drawn to the students becoming victims of various harassments and the actions must be taken assuring the safety of them.
A meeting between the South Korean Ambassador in Sri Lanka Madam Miyon Lee and the Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr. Madhura Senevirathna was held on 24th of June at Isurupaya the Ministry of Education premises. The Deputy Minister welcomed the ambassador there and the attention was drawn at strengthening the bilateral relationships between Sri Lanka and South Korea.
The attention was drawn here at the building up of the vocational education sector to suit the labor force in the country, the exchange programs for technical education between Sri Lanka and South Korea and the expanding the higher educational opportunities in the universities. And also, a special attention was drawn at widening the opportunities of learning Korean language within Sri Lankan school system and for establishing a Korean Cultural center in Sri Lanka.
It has been planned to implement the program “Labored Movement” under the “Clean Sri Lanka” for the purpose of creating an attractive learning environment to the students studying in vocational education institutions maintained under the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education.
This program will be commenced at 8.00 am on 04th of July covering all 311 vocational training centers operating under the Ministry of Vocational Training, with the full assistance from the three armed forces.
These matters were revealed at the discussion held today (17) at the Presidential Secretariat with the leadership of the Deputy Minister of Vocational Education Nalin Hewage.
Nearly three hundred thousand students sit for General Certificate of Education Advanced Level Examination annually but nearly 240,000 students do not get the chance for entering the universities. Out of that amount about 125,000 students enter the vocational training institutions operating under the Ministry of Vocational Education and about 50,000 students are directed to other affiliated higher education institutions.
Accordingly, it has been planned to implement this program by the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education together with the Secretariat of Clean Sri Lanka in order to direct nearly 175,000 students towards vocational education, who miss the university admissions annually and to provide them with a conducive educational environment and necessary facilities.
It is scheduled to involve in this program about 160,000 people including 125,000 students learning in the vocational training centers, about 10,000 non-academic staff together with the people residing in the area.
A group of people including the officers from Clean Sri Lanka Secretariat together with Senior Additional Presidential Secretary Mr. G.M.R.D. Aponsu and Additional Presidential Secretary Mr. A.P.C. Sugeeshwara, the officers from the Ministry of Defense and the senior officers representing the three armed forces participated in this discussion.
A discussion was held between the new staff of the National Education Commission and The Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasooriya at the National Education Commission.
Here the new staff was introduced and The Prime Minister explained the process that is being implemented for new education reforms.
The Prime Minister said at this occasion that it is ready to start the new education reforms from 2026 and for that purpose the institutions coming under the Ministry of Education must work together according to a proper methodology.
At this occasion it was discussed lengthily about the role of National Education Commission in the implementation process of new education reforms. The Minister explained the matters related to the issues remaining in the commission and the tasks to be done in the future.
The Minister said that when the education reforms are implemented, doing surveys on schools and the monitoring will lie with the National Education Commission and when the new education policies are put into action strongly, the Ministry of Education, the National Institute of Education and the National Education Commission must work together.
The secretary of the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education Nalaka Kaluwewa, the Chairperson of National Education Commission Professor A. Sarath Ananda, the Vice Chairperson Thilak Dharmarathna and the officers of the commission attended this occasion.
The provincial and national awards ceremony of the National Science Olympiad Competition organized annually by the Ministry of Education was held today (20) at the Ministry of Education with the leadership of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism Mr. Vijitha Herath and the Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr. Madhura Senevirathna.
The National Olympiad Tournament is held in several sections centering the subjects Science, Mathematics, Information Science and Statistics. This tournament is organized with the intention of identification of the students having competence in these subjects, encouraging them and improving the subjective knowledge and also aiming at selecting the national team to be directed to the International Science Olympiad Tournament.
The distribution of certificates of merit and awards among 101 students who have won the provincial and all island Science Olympiad Tournament held in 2024 was done at this occasion.
Addressing this function, the Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr. Madhura Senevirathna requested from them to plan for winning the world not just stopping here.
A large gathering including the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism Mr. Vijitha Herath and the Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr. Madhura Senevirathna, the Secretary of Education Nalaka Kaluwewa and the senior officers of the Ministry of Education, Provincial and National level award winning students, the students who represented Sri Lanka at International Science Olympiad Tournament and their parents participated in this event.
The Minister expressed this at a program held today (17) at the Ministry of Education regarding the sensitization of school children about the adolescent sanitation.
At this occasion community specialist Doctor Mrs. Asanthi Fernando Balapitiya of Health Promotion Bureau delivered the special lecture on adolescent sanitation.
Further expressing her ideas, The Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasooriya stated like this.
We believe that the sanitation is directly connected with education. Some people may think what is the connection between education and sanitation. Sanitation is a right of all and everybody needs it and according to the data it shows because of the lack of sanitary facilities in school properly specially the girl children in school with less facilities miss their education at least once a month. In the same way their right to move freely in the society is also limited. That is because of the lack of proper sanitary facilities.
Not only you the girl students, all of us have suffered with these experiences to the maximum. Not only within the school, women face these difficulties even in common society due to lack of common facilities.
Sanitation is very important. You may ask, as males what are the things we have to know here. This is a problem of females, so let them solve it themselves. But you also have sanitary problems. In the same way, if female children face some difficulty, the male faction also must have an understanding and empathy to be sensitive about it.
Being a successful citizen does not mean only to do a better job. If somebody in the society remains with a difficulty, it is necessary to be sensitive about it. There must be an empathy in the sensitive matters of women. And also, if you have an understanding to live in the society as a citizen, then only you are successful.
Starting from this point, we do the sensitizing of sanitation at school level. Education means a very broad concept. The education must be able to create a next generation with the ability to heel everybody in the society and to provide a leadership which is beneficial for the community and the society. The education must contain mutual respect, help each other and all such things. Therefore, the sanitation is not a thing that can be limited to the health. Sanitation is not only just talking about menstruation circle. The government concerns the availability of sanitary facilities within the schools and in the common society as a fundamental right. Sanitation is not a thing necessary to hide.
For that purpose, The Minister said that the society must be upgraded to a position where there is mutual respect, social justice, equality, protection of each other, taking care of others and giving priority to the humanity more than this.
A gathering including the Additional Secretaries of the Ministry of Education, the officers of Family Health Bureau and Health Promotion Bureau, school children and teachers participated in this occasion.
A discussion about the necessary steps to be taken for the declaration of necessary guidelines in August this year with regard to new educational transformations scheduled to be implemented from 2026 and the teacher training for that purpose, was held at the National Institute of Education with the participation of The Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasooriya .
The Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasooriya said that the new syllabuses for grades 1 and 6 will be introduced from the year 2026 and it is scheduled to introduce the new syllabus for grade 10 in 2028 and the actions will be taken to hold ordinary level examination in 2029 depending on the new syllabus and also it is scheduled to introduce the vocational education from grade 9. At this occasion the heads of each section of the National Institute of Education made the Minister aware of the way of implementing the relevant process in relation to this new education reforms by their respective sections and the current situation of them.
The Prime Minister pointed out at this occasion that this is an educational reformation executed upon 05 pillars namely, revision of new syllabuses, teacher training, administration and provision of infra-structure facilities, creating a proper evaluation process and obtaining the public assistance for this purpose and she pointed out that it is the responsibility of National Institute of Education to create teachers rich in good attitudes. Furthermore, the Prime Minister instructed the officers not to stop with these reforms but to take action for supervising how it is being implemented and to create a formal evaluation process.
The secretary of the Ministry of Education Mr. Nalaka Kaluwewa, The Director General of National Institute of Education Professor Manjula Withanapathirana and all sectional heads of that institution participated in this discussion.
The Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Prime Minister planted a fruit sapling at the ‘Isurupaya’ Ministry premises today morning under the theme of ‘Let It Grow’.
At the World Environment Day celebration presided over by the Minister, the Prime Minister stated that the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education has an indispensable pilot role to build a culture with positive attitude towards conservation of nature and environment in the journey towards the sustainable development goals of saving resources for future generations.
Also, the Minister further said that the global role of protecting the natural environment including green land for future generations by getting rid of the climate changes we are facing today based on the inseparable relationship with nature and the environment, was symbolically started today at the ministerial level under the name ‘Let it flow’.
In the future steps of the program, it is expected that everyone will deal with the environment and nature in a regular and sensitive manner in their daily life, and accordingly, we should act with the feeling that we are all a part of the environment by doing behaviors such as not turning on even a single light unnecessarily, not wasting even a sheet of paper, getting rid of the use of plastic polythene as much as possible and getting used to an environment-friendly lifestyle.
Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education Madhura Seneviratne, Ministry Secretary Nalaka Kaluveva, Additional Secretary Wasantha Gunaratne and other officials participated in this event.
With the onset of the monsoon season, there is a high risk of dengue and vicuna diseases spreading across the island, and a high percentage of dengue patients reported from various parts of the island up to May 31, 2025 are school-age children between the ages of 5 and 19.
Therefore, in order to maintain a mosquito-free and safe environment around schools, additional measures and instructions have been issued in addition to the previously issued circulars and instructions 2010/22 and 30/2017, and all Provincial Directors of Education, Zonal Directors of Education and other officials have been informed to follow those instructions for the health protection of students and academic/non-academic staff.
Accordingly, all principals of government and government-approved private schools, heads of pirivenas, deans of national colleges of education and heads of other educational centers and offices in the province are hereby informed.
The relevant instruction sheet is attached herewith.
Under the patronage of the Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education, Dr. Madura Seneviratne, and the Secretary to the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, Mr. Nalaka Kaluwewa, the staff of the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education marked the beginning of the new year 2025 and administered the Public Service Pledge at the ‘Isurupaya’ premises this morning.
On this occasion, the ministry officials and staff also joined the ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ program, which is being implemented based on a concept of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The staff’s attention was focused on four main objectives to create sustainability in the governance, social, environmental and economic sectors of the country as solutions for a sustainable future.
The great generosity shown in the fight against corruption and public accountability for it, without further tolerance, as well as environmental responsibility and social consciousness A clear understanding was provided here of the main objectives of creating a mindset, ensuring a clean and sustainable environment by optimizing the use of natural resources, and strengthening and streamlining the waste management system by improving infrastructure through public-private coordination.
