National Coalition
Sri Lanka - Coalition for Educational Development (CED)

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What happened in Action Week 2008?
Five teachers’ unions in Sri Lanka celebrated Global Action Week under the EI/UEN/Sri Lanka Teachers’ Unions Joint Project. They held a public event attended by Mr Susil Prem Jayanth, Minister of Education where research on school closure and proposals of educational policy were presented.

Students performed a song and presented a short drama about the harm of corporal punishment. A collective statement was issued lauding the benefits of a sixty-year policy of free public education but signalling concern over trends towards privatisation.

The statement lamented the closure of small schools and the subsequent downturn in education quality but noted the commitment of the Minister of Education to maintaining free education. It called for a National Policy on Education which would ensure consistency in successive governments.

What happened in Action Week 2007?

Campaigners in Sri Lanka successfully conducted a media campaign, an essay competition, an oratory contest, formed a long human chain and prepared a dossier on the Right to Education. Parents, teachers and students took part enthusiastically in the national competitions and in the local debates on education rights.