Education: Abysmal stats plague schools

• 3000+ Govt. schools with less than 10 teachers
• Less than 50 students in 1,640+ Govt. schools

More than 3,000 Government schools across the island have fewer than 10 teachers, the Census and Statistics Department has confirmed. According to data from the Department for last year (2025), there are 10,047 schools island-wide. Out of these schools, 3,065 have fewer than 10 teachers. It is also stated that one of these schools is a national school.

In 1,645 Government schools across the country, the number of students is fewer than 50. Among the Government schools with fewer than 50 students, there is one national school and 1,644 provincial schools. There are 1,648 Government schools with student populations between 51 and 100, and all of these are provincial schools.

Meanwhile, compared to the year 2024, the number of students admitted to Government schools for Grade One in 2025 has declined. A total of 266,281 students were admitted to Grade One in Government schools in 2025.

Elsewhere, a group of teachers and non-academic staff members of national schools across the country staged a protest yesterday (5) near the main entrance of the Presidential Secretariat. Protesters stated that the privilege allowing staff who have completed three years of service in national schools to enroll their children in the same schools was suspended from 2025 without any valid reason. Protesters further noted that despite meetings and inquiries with the relevant authorities, including the Education Minister, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and the Education Ministry Secretary Nalaka Kaluwewa, no solution has been provided. Accordingly, the national school teachers and non-academic staff members are demanding a resolution to their concerns. Teachers and non-academic staff have reportedly participated in the protest along with their children.

Also, the Ministry stated that committees tasked with making decisions on the review of education reforms would be appointed in the coming days, as the Ministry moves forward with reassessing the reform process.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, Kaluwewa said that several internal steps are currently being taken as part of the review. He noted that although public opinion on the proposed education reforms are already being received, the formal mechanism through which public views would be collected has not yet been finalised.

He explained that once the internal processes are completed, the Ministry would initiate a formal process to obtain public feedback. “Public opinion has already come in, the formal method under which they will be obtained will be decided in the future,” he said, adding the appointment of the relevant committees would be a key part of this next phase.

Earlier, the Ministry announced the concept paper on education reforms would be opened up for public discussion in the coming days. Kaluwewa told The Daily Morning at that time the concept paper was published on the Ministry’s official website and that plans are underway to hold a broader public dialogue.

The education reform process has faced several issues in recent months, including problems linked to the Grade Six modules, allegations the relevant stakeholders such as the teachers and principals were not adequately consulted, and criticism over the manner in which decisions were taken. Following the incident of an inappropriate web link being included in the Grade Six English module incident, the Government halted the implementation of Grade Six education reforms until 2027.

Source - The Morning