Circular regarding changing school education to 4 days a week

Due to the prevailing global fuel crisis, the Ministry of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Education has decided to limit academic activities in all government and government-approved private schools in Sri Lanka to only four days a week. Accordingly, the latest official circular issued by the Ministry states that Wednesday will be considered a school holiday every week until further notice.

In conjunction with this decision, a special series of instructions has also been issued to all provincial and zonal education authorities regarding the maintenance of daily administrative activities and the learning process in schools.

Even though Wednesday has been declared a holiday, all principals have been instructed to take steps to provide students with the necessary assignments, exercises, and revision activities to engage in educational activities from home on that day. Furthermore, as the time remaining for schools to cover the syllabus is limited, the Ministry strongly emphasizes that school time should not be used for various programs and ceremonies organized by schools or other external institutions.

As a measure to face the fuel crisis, the government has also instructed that any ceremony or program conducted by schools should be organized in a manner that minimizes fuel consumption. Under this, elements such as vehicle parades that consume excessive fuel have been completely temporarily suspended. In addition, the organization of school educational tours, as well as the participation of students in all tours planned for the coming days, has been temporarily suspended until further notice. The Ministry expects to issue further instructions regarding the continuation of schools once the situation in the country improves.