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All children called to school from Monday

06 Jan 2022

  • New school guidelines to be issued by Ministry of Health
  • Students aged 12-15 to get vaccine from tomorrow
  • A/L, Scholarship exams to be held as scheduled
BY Buddhika Samaraweera Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr. Asela Gunawardena has granted approval to the Ministry of Education to normalise academic activities at all schools from Grades One to 13, starting from next Monday (10). All government schools and government-approved schools were reopened on Monday (3) for academic activities after term holidays which commenced on 23 December 2021. Earlier, the Ministry of Education had given instructions to summon students in batches in classrooms with more than 27 students. Although schools started in January for the year 2022, there were no grade changes as the 2021 academic year will be operational until 8 April this year. Meanwhile, Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella stated yesterday (5) that the Ministry of Health would take steps to issue health guidelines in order to maintain schools under normal conditions from 10 January 2022, under the new normalisation of the country. Accordingly, health guidelines will be issued to call all schoolchildren to school as usual. “Currently, the vaccination programme is being implemented very successfully. The field of education is very important in normalising the country. With that in mind, the Covid-19 vaccination programme is being successfully implemented for all in the field of education, including teachers,” he added. Rambukwella further said that the Covid-19 vaccination for students between the ages of 12 and 15 years will commence from tomorrow (7). He also said that parallel to the provision of Covid-19 vaccines to schoolchildren in the said ages, school teachers who have not yet received the Covid-19 booster vaccine dose will be able to receive the vaccine at the relevant schools. “Non-academic staff members of schools and people transporting schoolchildren also have the opportunity to receive the Covid-19 booster vaccine doses at schools. Through this, necessary steps will be taken to ensure the safety of schoolchildren in the Covid-19 pandemic situation,” he said. The Morning reported late last month that the programme for administering the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine to schoolchildren over the age of 12 years would be commenced in January 2022. Speaking to The Morning at that time, Ministry of Health Communications Director and Deputy Director General of Public Health Services Dr. Hemantha Herath said the relevant schools would inform the students about the date of vaccination. Adding that the US-German made Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine would be administered to them, Dr. Herath said the stock of vaccines would be sent to the local health services institutions in the future. When queried as to whether there are sufficient vaccines for that, he said that there were enough vaccines. “There are some additional vaccines too, because they are not being used as some have refused to get the vaccine,” he added. The programme to administer Covid-19 vaccines to children studying in the GCE Advanced Level (A/L) classes commenced on 15 October 2021 while the vaccination of schoolchildren above 16 years of age commenced on 21 October 2021. The Covid-19 vaccination programme for children over 12 years of age suffering from chronic diseases commenced on 24 September 2021 at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education stated that GCE A/L and Grade Five Scholarship examinations could be held on the previously announced dates and that there is no need to postpone them. Speaking to The Morning yesterday, Ministry of Education Secretary Prof. Kapila Perera said: “Currently, the Education Ministry is of the view that these examinations could be held on the previously announced dates. We do not see any need to postpone the examinations. All these are decisions that have been discussed at length earlier.” He said that the A/L and Scholarship examinations are usually held in the month of August and that, therefore, only two school terms would be covered for students who are sitting for the examinations. Accordingly, from August 2021 to February this year, students have ample time to complete their studies, he said. Speaking further, he said: “The Education Ministry has no problem with postponing the examinations, but we all should pay attention to the social situation that arises through it. There are a large number of students, especially those who want the examinations to be postponed as well as those who request that the examinations be held on the due date/s.” The Ministry of Education, on 2 November 2021, announced the revised dates for the Grade Five Scholarship, GCE A/L, and GCE Ordinary Level (O/L) examinations for the year 2021. Accordingly, the Scholarship examination will be held on 22 January 2022, the A/L examination from 7 February to 5 March 2022, and the O/L examination from 23 May to 1 June 2022.


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