Letters to the Editor - Ban private tuition during school hours

Recently I had to attend the parents’ meeting on behalf of my daughter, who is attending a Government school in Colombo and sitting for the GCE Advanced Level examination this year.

At this meeting, the teachers complained that they were unable to conduct classes properly and complete the Student-Based Assessments as the attendance of the students was very dismal.

The reason is that most of the students are attending private tuition classes in the morning and therefore unable to attend school. To overcome this problem to some extent, the students had been given the privilege to attend classes on certain days agreed upon among the students and even this has not been successful as the students continue to absent themselves.

I suggest that the Department of Education should debar students from sitting the examination if school attendance is not satisfactory whilst at the same time ensuring the schools have teachers for all the subjects and syllabi are also covered in full.

Mohamed Zahran

Colombo 3