Former Minister Wimal Weerawansa has announced the launch of an indefinite strike calling for Education Minister Harini Amarasuriya’s resignation from the education portfolio. The planned strike was posted on social media by Weerawansa under the hashtag ‘HariniGoHome’.
A group of activists backed by Weerawansa announced on Saturday (10) plans to launch an indefinite protest outside the Education Ministry from Monday (12), demanding the withdrawal of new education reforms and calling for the resignation of the education minister.
The protest, organized by the group “Adults Standing for Children,” is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Monday, according to the group’s convener who is also Weerawansa.
Speaking at a news conference in Colombo, Weerawansa noted that parents from across the country are invited to join the continuous sit-in, regardless of political affiliation.
He alleged that the proposed education reforms fail to provide fair opportunities for children and instead introduce measures that could harm students’ futures and that the reforms were being implemented in a rushed manner without adequate consultation and amounted to a commercial venture rather than a genuine effort to improve education.
Weerawansa further expressed concerns over the inclusion of website links and YouTube channels in school modules, alleging that some of the content was inappropriate, while claiming that directing large numbers of students to such platforms could generate significant revenue and called for an investigation into who benefits financially.
According to Weerawansam, education reforms that affect schoolchildren should be introduced with caution, and that pilot projects and broad consultations with education experts were necessary before nationwide implementation.
He further noted that the protest would continue until the government withdraws the new education reforms.
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