Minister of Education Dr. Susil Premajayantha says that it is expected to establish a separate department for special education in the National University of Education which will be established in the future.
Within the framework of education reform, the field of special education is one of the main sectors.
In the future, it is expected to establish the National University of Education to provide Bachelor of Education degrees together with all the National Colleges of Education established for the purpose of providing trained teachers to the school system in this country.
The minister expressed these views while joining the ceremony held at the Ministry of Education for the launch of the circular and instruction code on special education assessment, the establishment of special education assessment committees at the regional level and the launch of the teacher’s guide to interactive education.
The minister who further commented here,
“We want to make the most of the special education resource center in Venivelkola, Kahathuduwa. There are special methods developed using technology in developed countries to identify children with special conditions at a very young age. There are still delays in early identification of children with special needs in our country. It is a big influence in this field. Currently, there are no children with speech and hearing disabilities in countries like Australia. We should approach that situation step by step. Also, there are many socio-cultural challenges in this country regarding children with special needs.” The minister emphasized that more attention should be given to them.
The Minister further pointed out that in the last few years, even in an environment where the infant birth rate is decreasing in Sri Lanka, 6,000-8,000 children are born with special needs every year, and teachers, society and the school, the classroom need to be prepared for directing special children to interactive education.
In Singapore, which has achieved high success in the field of interactive education among many countries in the world, there are separate institutions that train teachers for this purpose.
The minister also stated that he expects to receive the support of the Singapore government for future teacher training activities in the field of special education.
He said that in the future, with the intervention of the Ministry of Health, steps will be taken to establish a separate institution where specialists can come to identify special children early.
The Minister also said that it will be possible to enrol children who are identified and treated at the initial stage in schools as usual from the first grade.
He also emphasized that there is a special group of children who are of the age to be sent to school but do not go to school and hide information due to social, economic and personal reasons and that actions should be taken on their behalf at the local government level.
