Prime Minister and Education Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya told Parliament on Tuesday that major reforms to Sri Lanka’s preschool education system are scheduled for implementation in 2027, anchored in the National Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework introduced by the National Institute of Education in 2025.
Dr. Amarasuriya said the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education is taking the steps necessary to reform the existing preschool framework. A preschool teachers’ guide and a model activity compendium are currently being developed in line with the new curriculum, she said, and arrangements have been made to train all preschool teachers at the provincial level so they can apply the framework in the classroom.
A national policy on preschool education is also being developed, with implementation planned for 2026 and full reform implementation in 2027. The reform package will cover curriculum design, teaching materials and teacher capacity, the Prime Minister said.
The preschool agenda sits alongside two other reform tracks the government has signalled this year: the Grade 6 curriculum reforms set for January 2027, and proposed restrictions on social media for under-12s and screen time for under-5s under a committee chaired by Dr. Amarasuriya. Together they form the most substantial overhaul of early-childhood and early-school policy attempted in over a decade.
