{"id":87257,"date":"2019-04-16T15:12:34","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T22:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=87257"},"modified":"2019-04-18T16:09:33","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T23:09:33","slug":"health-education-and-yahapalana-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/04\/16\/health-education-and-yahapalana-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"HEALTH, EDUCATION AND YAHAPALANA Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA\u00a0 PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

SMART\nEDUCATION\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2017 65 schools in the Western\nProvince  were converted into \u2018Smart\nSchools\u2019 capable of deploying digital learning protocols. The project was  led by Guru.lk, Sri Lanka\u2019s leading eLearning\nportal. The company collaborated with Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Microsoft Sri\nLanka and the Western Province Education Ministry over a six month period to\ncomplete the project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The objective\nof the project was to expose traditional classroom based teachers and students\nto the latest digital based learning technology and systems. This would enable\nstudents to make the best use of    the\ntablet computers which the Ministry planned to introduced to the government\nschools system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project\ninvolved providing the schools with content to use on computers, a learning\nmanagement system, Microsoft Office 365 licenses and technical support. It included training more than 1,000\nteachers in the use of the necessary hardware and software. Many of the\nteachers trained for this smart schools program became capable of creating\ndigital content themselves for the purpose of teaching their students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nCommercial Bank of Ceylon supported the project by funding the creation of the\n\u2018Sipnena\u2019 website registered under the .lk and .com domains, and hosted free on\nguru.lk servers.
\n.The website offers students free access to content carefully selected to\nsupport their educational needs in line with local curricula, via more than 170\nIT labs donated by the Commercial Bank to schools around the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nCommercial Bank made substantial investments to develop lessons for all\nsubjects in the GCE Advanced Level Mathematics and Bio Science streams and for\nGrade 10 Mathematics, Science and English. The Bank also made investments to\ncreate an online Maths Lab, Mathematics Revision lessons and even a section\ndedicated to vocational training.
\n
\nMicrosoft Sri Lanka provided its world class software free of charge and also\ninvested in teacher training for the project. Guru.lk and its owning company\nHeadstart Ltd. provided the student Learning Management System free of charge\nprovided content, conducted teacher training and coordinated the implementation\nof the project. The company was also responsible for monitoring progress and\nactivation at ground level in the 65 schools in the Western Province. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Headstart Ltd\nthe company that owns Guru.lk was a tech start-up with a project named\n\u2018Vidunena\u2019 under which the GCE A\/L Science curriculum was provided to schools\nin an E Learning format, through an ICTA grant. It had been developing content\nfor the ICTA\/Ministry of Education on school curricula since 2009. The\ncompany  owned the largest E Learning\ncontent portal www.guru.lk in Sri Lanka with more than 235,000 learners and\n1,000 plus lessons to choose from. The content knowledge pool included\nuniversity academics, teachers, business leaders, corporate trainers and soft\nskills trainers, and is the largest such education-related talent pool in Sri\nLanka.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In  July 2017.Microsoft invited Guru.lk, to\npresent a case study  on the project to\nMicrosoft country representatives from the Asia Pacific region, Microsoft\neducation partners and officials from Microsoft\u2019s head office in USA. Hasitha Dela,\nCEO of Headstart Ltd said in his presentation, that the project was completed\nin record time despite Sri Lanka\u2019s digital literacy rate being just 26% .The\nproject include schools of varying sizes, standards and locations. Teacher competitions were held and each\nteacher achievement was rewarded with Microsoft badges which enabled them to\ncompete with regional countries. Sri Lankan teachers have earned more than\n12,000 Microsoft badges, one of highest figures for countries in the Asia\nPacific region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s\nfirst cloud-based Smart Classroom was set up in January 2017, at the Sri\nJayewardenepura Kotte Maha Vidyalaya. Seventeen students  participated in the pilot project. Lessons were\nconducted in the English medium and the students  used tablet computers instead of textbooks\nfor interactive learning. The individual tabs will mirror lessons from a large\nscreen computer that replaces the blackboard as a teaching guide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first\ngrade-wide deployment of Smart Classrooms   \nwas thereafter  set up at the same\nschool, Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte Boys School on February 2019.  These are not just classrooms with Smart\nBoards. They use an intuitive learning platform connecting teachers and students.\nThese Smart Classrooms are powered by XOLO Smart Classroom platform developed\nand managed by CodeGen .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ministry of Education  then embarked on a plan to establish Smart\nClassrooms for 342 schools. The progamme was first launched with 42 schools in\n2016, 150 in stage II and 150 schools in the last phase in 2018. Altogether, 50,000 students  benefited, at a cost of Rs 1,000 million, for\nthe purchase of tabs, laptops and infrastructure facilities. Schools needed access to basic facilities\nsuch as electricity and Internet. As facilities to other schools improved, the Ministry\nwould provide  Smart Classroom facilities\nto other schools as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ministry\nembarked on a pilot project to  give free\ntablets to Advanced Level students and teachers in government schools.\nYahapalana earlier planned to lease laptops from the private sector, which\nwould be responsible for maintenance and repairs. Then they\nfound that it was cheaper for the Ministry to purchase and supply Laptops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laptops would\nbe purchase under a 3-year guarantee and the total project cost was estimated\nat Rs 12 billion, with which they could purchase around 160,000 Laptops, while\nrepairs and maintenance were estimated at Rs 400 million. An estimated Rs 597.6\nmillion  was  allocated for the project, under which 628\nschools were to be provided with 14,230 Laptops. The Ministry will    provide laptops to selected schools in\ndifficult areas as well. Schools that do not have electricity will have to get\nthe laptops charged elsewhere.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In 2018, \nYahapalana  approved a proposal to\nraise a US$ 56.9 million loan for the establishment of a National Centre for\nCreating E-Learning Resources, for teaching through Computers. Under the plan\nthe Ministry of Education would formalize applying Information Technology  in Schools. The proposal is to provide\nComputers and Accessories to all Regional Computer Resources Centers, construct\n2 Provincial IT Educational Centers associated with Addalachchena and Nilwala\nNational Colleges of Education, and establish a National Level Software &\nComputer Application Design Center at Narangallawaththa, Kurunegala. The money  will be raised from the Economic Development\nCooperative Fund and the Abu Dhabi Fund, through the Korean Import Export Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ministry\nhas given instructions to weed the school libraries. The Ministry of\nEducation  said that, in order to\nintroduce digital and electronic Libraries into schools, weeding\/discarding was\nnecessary. Books printed over 20 years ago, highly academic material not\nsuitable for schoolchildren, books that undermines national unity, containing\noutdated and misleading information, old annual reports and newspapers, books\nnot used by students, are instructed to be removed immediately from school\nLibraries,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A circular\nhas been issued including weeding instructions to all provincial and Zonal\nDirectors of Education, school Principals, Principals of Teacher Training\nColleges and National Education Colleges.. The Principal must appoint a\n5-11-member committee to work with the school librarian\/library committee. The\ncommittee will prepare a weeding list, make submissions\/recommendations,\nindicating items for weeding, and finally decide on the removal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Materials to\nbe removed should be exhibited within the school premises, followed by an open\nnegotiation with representatives from teaching staff, parent\u2019s committee and students.\nAmong those to be considered before weeding are dictionaries and encyclopedias,\nif the existing version is more than 20 years old, Central Bank annual reports\nand Budget proposals, subject books for Mathematics, Science and Technology,\nreaders demand and preference, cost effectiveness of rebinding, availability of\nsubstitute material and conserving books with a historical or cultural value. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PRIVATE SCHOOLS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When JR\nJayewardene was President,  government\ndecided to assist certain  Christian  schools which, having decided to   become private schools in 1960,  were now in financial difficulties.  A category called Government-approved Private\nSchools was created.  The government\nprovided school uniforms and textbooks to the 80 Government-approved Private\nschools.<\/em> 36 schools were given money to\npay teachers\u2019 salaries. <\/strong>The UNP government of the time was restoring \u2018assisted\nschool system\u2019 which was eliminated in the 1960  \u2018take over of schools \u2018. Thanks to this new\nplan, some  Christian schools, moved out\nof the state sector and went  private. St\nAnthony\u2019s College, Kandy was one of them, I think. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana\ngovernment  decided to  further extend this. In 2019, Yahapalana\nannounced that  it intends to provide\nassistance to 13 more unaided Private schools, after  they were converted into Government-assisted\nPrivate schools,  following Education\nMinistry criteria. Yahapalana would pay teachers salaries to 13 private schools\nthat do not currently receive assistance from the government. 381 teachers\nat these schools would be paid a colossal sum of Rs. 160 million a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 13\nschools  are Sri Sumeda Vidyalaya,\nGampaha, Bolawalana Ave Maria Vidyalaya, Negombo, Nalanda Buddhist Vidyalaya,\nKundasale, Suradithika Balika Vidyalaya Paiyagala, Siri Sumana Buddhist\nVidyalaya Biyagama, N.C.E.F. Buddhist Vidyalaya, Mulleriya, Minerva Vidyalaya,\nMatara, Sri Rahula, Anuradhapura, Sinhala Buddhist Vidyalaya, Matale, Western\nProvince Jaya Indrasiri Vidyalaya, Pitakotte, Mahamvenawa Buddhist Vidyalaya,\nKurunegala and Vidyani Vidyalaya, Kelaniya. The Ceylon\nTeachers Union said  this was an\nadditional burden for the cash-strapped Education Ministry and the money could\nbe better used to upgrade and provide facilities for schools in rural areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In 2018 Cabinet  approved a government proposal to allow\npopular semi-government schools to establish branches across the country..A\ntotal of 36 popular semi-government schools including St Peter\u2019s, St Joseph\u2019s\nCollege and Wesley College in Colombo, Maris Stella College and Loyola College\nin Negombo, Holy Cross College, Kalutara and Christ King College, Pannipitiya\nare allowed to build five branches each around the country, according to\ncabinet paper No. 18\/0850\/742\/017 of April 26, 2018. By 2019, these schools had\nestablished nine branches in Negombo, Wattala, Katunayake, Bopitiya and\nKalutara. Ceylon Teachers Union said allowing popular schools to build branches\nacross the country would result in the \nclosure of  several existing\nschools.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FREE TEXT BOOKS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018,  Yahapalana \nhad printed only a fraction of the free textbooks books needed for schools. The total requirement of textbooks for 2018  was over 41 million and Rs 4.385 billion was\nallocated. However they  printed just\nover 28 million (28, 210, 600) books. This  resulted in a severe\nshortage of text books . Teachers too are affected by the situation as the\nnumber of textbooks needed for the teachers has not been included in the\nprinted textbooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

out of the 28 million books that were printed,\nthe government had printed\n8,802,100 new books for Grade 1- 4, 6,432,000 new books for Grade 09 and\n2,630,000 work new books,\nthese had to be printed due to syllabus change. Students from Grade 6\nto Grade 9 had been told to re-use about previously used books .  Some\nstudents were receiving new books while others were told to re-use the old\nbooks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the old\nbooks could not  be reused because  they were not in good condition.   They were \ntorn, damaged and written all over. Students who\nreceived these old books are now buying new ones. The past few weeks saw hundreds of\nparents standing in queues at the Education Publications Department bookshops, to buy \nthe books., complained Ceylon Teachers Union. The\nMinistry had created an artificial shortage  to make students buy the books. This has\nensured that a large number of students are buying books from the Department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017 Yahapalana had started printing prices\nat the back of each textbook.\nThe\nreason for printing the book price, the teachers unions were told was to show\nthe students the value of books\nthey were getting for free. This was not accepted. This was a move\nto reduce expenditure on free education, encourage the purchase of books and initiate\na voucher system for textbooks similar to that for uniform material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commissioner of General Education\nPublications, blamed the\nGovernment Press, which had delayed the matter,  due\nto the printing of election poll cards and the Bond\nCommission report. This  explanation  was  not\naccepted. School textbooks need to be given out before\nthe school holidays and are  printed  much earlier. About 97% of school textbooks\nare printed by 26 private sector printers.  Education Publications Department advertised\non January 30, 2018 calling for tenders for the printing of extra textbooks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNIFORMS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana  had earlier decided to issue vouchers instead\nof material for school uniforms. This was heavily criticized.There has been\ncriticism from various parties about the Voucher system, for school uniforms,\nbut we have decided not to withdraw the scheme, said the Ministry. The\nMinistry  decided to continue with the\nVoucher system, despite protests, but will consider increasing the payment for\nmaterial.  The scheme cannot be changed\nimmediately, as it would take time to order the material and  issue it. There would  also be problems regarding storage,\ntransportation, administrative, additional staff for distribution, the\npossibility of low quality material reaching the market and irregularities of\ntenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SURAKSHA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In 2017 the Cabinet approved a proposal to\nintroduce an insurance scheme, for all school children between the ages of 5\nand 19 years  in both government and\nprivate school students,   at a cost of\nRs. 2700 million to the government.   Around 4.5 million schoolchildren from\nall walks of life studying in government, private and international schools as\nwell as student priests in Pirivenas are covered under this scheme. This scheme, named Suraksha commenced on\n2.10.17 . The scheme  was\nfacilitated by Sri Lanka Insurance, which offers the service through its\nextensive network of 150 branches island-wide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suraksha consists of three main areas – Health\nInsurance, Personal Accident Insurance and Special Benefits .The insurance\ncover includes surgical and hospitalization benefits of Rs. 200,000 per annum\nas well as outdoor patients\u2019 benefits worth Rs. 10,000 for seven selected\nailments. Further, there is a personal accident insurance benefit provided to\nboth student and parents – Rs. 100,000 to be paid upon the sudden accidental\ndeath of the student as well as a cover worth Rs. 100,000 in the event of a\ntotal permanent disability and Rs. 50,000 to be paid upon partial permanent\ndisability of the student. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scheme also covers parents\u2019 accidental\ndeath where a sum of Rs. 75,000 is paid to the student for such losses. Suraksha\nbeneficiaries are also entitled to additional benefits such as discounts on hospitalization,\nconsultants\u2019 fees, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The scheme was successful, said the media. By\nMay 2018 the government has paid Rs. 89 million in claims to 8,870 people said Daily News<\/em>   over 1,600 claims were already paid by Sri\nLanka Insurance said Island.<\/em> The insurer has received over 4,300\ninsurance claims from schoolchildren during the last four months.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several\nsuccess stories  of Suraksha were given\nin the media. A school girl needed Rs 2.5 million for a spine operation at a\nprivate hospital. Her father found out about the scheme and applied for it.\nWithin two to three days I was able to get Rs. 100,000. Though the cost was not\nrecovered 100 percent, it was something.\u201d A\nschoolboy got dengue twice, The first time, Suraksha helped meet part of the\nhospital bill, and the second time, we were able to recover the whole amount\nthrough Suraksha,\u201d the father said<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B.A.\nRupika\u2019s  husband in Wattemulla met with\nan accident and passed away. She is now the sole breadwinner in her family. As\nshe struggled to make ends meet, her child\u2019s school informed her that she could\napply for a claim through Suraksha. The claim took 1.5 months, but she was able\nto get Rs. 75,000 for the death of her husband, It helped me a lot,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 One parent, Senadeera,  said that many  parents were reluctant to claim through\nSuraksha because either way they would have to foot the initial amount on their\nown and only later get it reimbursed. Many people cannot afford to put up that\ninitial sum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There must be\na direct payment scheme where the insurance covers the cost without us having\nto pay it first. If you connect the hospitals directly to the insurance\ncompany, many more people will make claims.\u201d Though\ngovernment hospitals are meant to be free, in reality healthcare is not. There\nare many expenses people have to bear, from costs in care to tests, he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, there\nwere many delays when applying for claims, especially when it was applied\nthrough a branch office of Sri Lanka Insurance, The first time we applied, we\ndid so through the Kaduwela branch and we had to follow up so many times,\nbecause they told us that the claim has to be sent to their head office to be\nprocessed. The second time around, it took less time because we knew the system\nand applied directly at their head office,\u2019 \nsaid Senadeera <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He further\nasked that the amount given per day to the child admitted at a government\nhospital be increased. This scheme is most helpful to parents who can\u2019t afford\nhealthcare. So Rs. 1,000 per day is not enough, it should be more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of\nawareness about Suraksha  varies in\nschools. Some schools are doing a good job whilst others are not interested,\u201d A\nparent found out that her child\u2019s school had not registered with Sri Lanka\nInsurance, when she called them up to ask whether her child was eligible for\nthe scheme. The school just sent us a leaflet about it once, but thereafter\nthey did not collect my son\u2019s information or tell us how we could apply for\nit,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also though\nthey had applied for the scheme, at first they were not aware of what exactly\nit covered. Admission charges to private hospitals are not covered. It is only\nwhen the child is going to be discharged that they tell us what is covered and\nwhat is not. They should inform the parents about this at the start,\u201d  she observed.\nThis is a  common problem with\nall  types of insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Education Ministry said they had conducted\nan awareness programme for schools on December 7, 2017. They were having\ndiscussions with Sri Lanka Insurance to have more awareness programmes\nconducted in schools.  The Ministry has\nalso asked whether the Insurance Corporation can look at a scheme to directly\nconnect their services with the hospitals. We were hoping that at least some\nhospitals could be selected to do this at the start and later it could be\nexpanded to all others,\u201d said the Ministry. Sri Lanka Insurance is yet to agree\nto the proposal they said in 2018. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, the\npicture  changed. The   agreement with Sri Lanka Insurance\nCorporation (SLIC) expired on November 30, 2018. The SLIC has paid only Rs 450\nmillion as claims, while the total amount insured was Rs 2,700 million. Around\n4,000 claims from schoolchildren, received by the Ministry under the Suraksha\ninsurance scheme, remain unpaid, said the Ceylon Teachers Union  in 2019. The\npaperwork for the claimants was done  by\nthe teachers. The children were automatically registered under Suraksha, but\nthe responsibility of collecting the student\u2019s information and registering them\nwith the scheme and making parents aware of the benefits has been delegated to\nthe school authorities by the Education Ministry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scheme\nhas come to a halt in 2019 and the claims \nput on hold,  due to a deadlock between\nthe Ministry and the Presidential Secretariat, over the selection of the\nInsurance company. The Allianz Co. was initially awarded the contract,  they had made the best offer, but Sri Lanka\nInsurance appealed to the Presidential Secretariat Appeal Board. The Appeal\nBoard decided that the Allianz . should be awarded the contract, but\nPresidential Secretariat directed the Ministry to halt the issue of the\ncontract. objections were also raised by trade unions against awarding the deal\nto a foreign company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thereafter, no\ndirective has been issued about the contract, thereby putting the entire\nproject on hold, reported the media. Students who relied on the insurance\nscheme and entered hospitals or proceeded with medical treatment, have been\naffected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the best\ncourse of action is for the Ministry to scrap the Insurance scheme and instead,\nestablish an office which will make payments for the claims, said the Ceylon\nTeachers Union.  Then the government\ncould save money and use it for the development of schools providing good\nbuildings, water and other facilities. Alternatively, the funds could be used\nto establish children\u2019s hospitals with all facilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sri Lanka\nMedical Association (SLMA)   also  urged the Government to reconsider the  proposal to introduce a health insurance\nscheme for all school children on the grounds that it lacked consultation with\nkey stakeholders and impacted on the current free health service. Neither the\nMinistry of Health nor professional medical bodies have been engaged in planning\nor implementing the insurance scheme, which will have wide-ranging implications\nfor the health sector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

while there\nalready is a free national health service, \nwhat is the justification for a new insurance scheme for school-going\nchildren, SLMA asked. This is an age group that generally requires very little\ncurative care. If at all, this health insurance scheme should target children\nwith critical and chronic illnesses. SLMA said. The major health issues\nafflicting the school-going population such as malnutrition, obesity, unhealthy\neating patterns, insufficient physical activity, exam stress and broader mental\nhealth concerns will not be addressed by this insurance scheme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SLMA said\nthe Government should direct funds set aside for the proposed new scheme  toward strengthening primary care.\nDeveloping a strong primary care system, encompassing preventive and curative\nservices, will be beneficial to all Sri Lankans, including school-going\nchildren,\u201d SLMA said. ( CONTINUED)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA\u00a0 PIERIS SMART EDUCATION\u201d In April 2017 65 schools in the Western Province  were converted into \u2018Smart Schools\u2019 capable of deploying digital learning protocols. The project was  led by Guru.lk, Sri Lanka\u2019s leading eLearning portal. The company collaborated with Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Microsoft Sri Lanka and the Western Province Education Ministry over a six […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}