Preparation of School Timetables under New Education Reforms (Circular 32/2026)
The Ministry of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Education has officially issued Circular No. 32/2026, signed by Secretary Nalaka Kaluwewe. This circular provides binding operational instructions to Provincial Chief Secretaries, Education Directors, Principals, and Pirivena heads on structuring school timetables in accordance with the Revised National Curriculum Framework approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on September 28, 2026.
Effective from 2027, this directive supersedes multiple previous curriculum timetable circulars (including Circular 34/2025 and earlier directives dating back to 2006). It establishes clear weekly time allocations, daily schedules, credit metrics, and rollout schedules for both the new curriculum and legacy syllabi during the transition period.
Grade-by-Grade Implementation Roadmap (2026–2033)
- 2026: Grade 1
- 2027: Grade 2 and Grade 6
- 2028: Grade 3 and Grade 7
- 2029: Grade 4, Grade 8, and Grade 10
- 2030: Grade 5, Grade 9, and Grade 11 (First G.C.E. O/L Examination under the New Syllabus)
- 2031–2032: Grade 12
- 2032–2033: Grade 13 (First G.C.E. A/L Examination under the New Syllabus in 2033)
Grades continuing under the Old Syllabus (OS) must follow the legacy timetable allocations specified in sections 9.0 to 15.0 of the circular until their scheduled transition years.
Daily School Hours & Session Structure for Secondary Grades (6–13)
- School Hours: 7:30 AM to 1:30 PM (Operating 8 periods per day of 40 minutes each).
- Weekly Assembly: 15 minutes once a week, adaptable without disrupting core instructional hours.
- Daily Morning Routines: On the remaining four school days, 10-minute sessions are scheduled: two days for Physical Training, one day for Mindfulness, and one day for Leadership Training, with 5 minutes for classroom transition.
- Administrative & Interval Time: 5 minutes daily for attendance marking and a standard 20-minute student/teacher interval.
Junior Secondary New Curriculum Structure (Grades 6–9)
Subjects are organized into modules and credits, where 1 credit equals 10 learning hours (600 minutes) encompassing teacher-student contact and independent learning:
- Mother Tongue & Literature (Sinhala/Tamil): 5 periods (3 Credits)
- English Language: 5 periods (3 Credits)
- Mathematics: 5 periods (3 Credits)
- Science: 5 periods (3 Credits)
- Social Studies (History, Geography, Civics Integrated): 4 periods (3 Credits)
- Aesthetic Education (Art, Music, Dance, Drama): 3 periods (2 Credits)
- Health & Physical Education: 2 periods (2 Credits)
- Religion: 2 periods (2 Credits)
- Information & Communication Technology (ICT): 2 periods (2 Credits)
- Technology for Life: 2 periods (2 Credits)
- Second National Language: 1 period (1 Credit)
- Entrepreneurship & Financial Literacy: 1 period (1 Credit)
- Sports, Clubs & Societies / Career Readiness & Life Skills: 1 period (2 Credits) (Career readiness begins from Grade 7)
- Elective Subjects / Modules: 1 period (1 Credit)
- Library / Reading: 1 period
අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශ චක්‍රලේඛ අංක 32/2026 – නව අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ අනුව පාසල් කාලසටහන සකස් කිරීම
2026.09.28 දින අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමත කරන ලද සංශෝධිත ජාතික විෂයමාලා රාමුවට අනුකූලව පාසල් කාලසටහන් සකස් කිරීම සඳහා අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් නාලක කළුවැව මහතාගේ අත්සනින් යුතුව 32/2026 දරන චක්‍රලේඛය නිකුත් කර ඇත. මෙම උපදෙස් 2027 වසරේ සිට ක්‍රියාත්මක වන අතර මීට පෙර නිකුත් කරන ලද අදාළ චක්‍රලේඛ සියල්ල අවලංගු වේ.
- නව විෂයමාලා හඳුන්වා දීමේ කාලසටහන: 2026 (1 ශ්‍රේණිය), 2027 (2 සහ 6 ශ්‍රේණි), 2028 (3 සහ 7 ශ්‍රේණි), 2029 (4, 8 සහ 10 ශ්‍රේණි), 2030 (5, 9 සහ 11 ශ්‍රේණි).
- ද්විතීයික පාසල් කාලය: පෙ.ව. 7:30 සිට ප.ව. 1:30 දක්වා දිනකට මිනිත්තු 40 බැගින් වූ කාලච්ඡේද 8 ක් පැවැත්විය යුතුය.
- කනිෂ්ඨ ද්විතීයික මට්ටම (6–9 ශ්‍රේණි): මොඩියුලර් හා ක්‍රෙඩිට් ක්‍රමය යටතේ සතියකට කාලච්ඡේද 40 ක් වෙන් කර ඇත. ඉතිහාසය, භූගෝල විද්‍යාව සහ පුරවැසි අධ්‍යාපනය ඒකාබද්ධ කර සතියකට කාලච්ඡේද 4 ක් සමාජ අධ්‍යයනය සඳහා වෙන් කර ඇත.
- පැරණි විෂයමාලාව: අදාළ ශ්‍රේණි සඳහා නව ක්‍රමය ක්‍රියාත්මක වන තුරු පැරණි විෂයමාලාවේ කාලසටහන් චක්‍රලේඛයේ උපදෙස් පරිදි අඛණ්ඩව ක්‍රියාත්මක වේ.
கல்வி அமைச்சுச் சுற்றறிக்கை 32/2026 – புதிய கல்வி மறுசீரமைப்புக்களுக்கு அமைவாகப் பாடசாலை நேர அட்டவணையைத் தயாரித்தல்
2026.09.28 ஆம் திகதியன்று அமைச்சரவையினால் அங்கீகரிக்கப்பட்ட திருத்தப்பட்ட தேசிய கலைத்திட்டச் சட்டகத்திற்கு அமைவாகப் பாடசாலை நேர அட்டவணையைத் தயாரிப்பதற்கான 32/2026 ஆம் இலக்க சுற்றறிக்கையைக் கல்வி அமைச்சின் செயலாளர் நாலக களுவெவ வெளியிட்டுள்ளார். 2027 ஆம் ஆண்டு முதல் இச்சுற்றறிக்கையின் அறிவுறுத்தல்கள் நடைமுறைக்கு வரும்.
- புதிய கலைத்திட்ட அறிமுகம்: 2026 (தரம் 1), 2027 (தரம் 2, 6), 2028 (தரம் 3, 7), 2029 (தரம் 4, 8, 10), 2030 (தரம் 5, 9, 11).
- பாடசாலை நேரம்: இடைநிலைத் தரங்களுக்கு மு.ப. 7.30 முதல் பி.ப. 1.30 வரை ஒரு நாளைக்கு 40 நிமிடங்களைக் கொண்ட 8 பாடவேளைகள் நடைமுறைப்படுத்தப்படும்.
- தரம் 6–9 பாடவேளைகள்: வாரத்திற்கு 40 பாடவேளைகள் ஒதுக்கப்படும். வரலாறு, புவியியல் மற்றும் குடியுரிமைக் கல்வி ஆகியவற்றை ஒன்றிணைத்து சமூகக் கல்விக்காக வாரத்திற்கு 4 பாடவேளைகள் ஒதுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன.
⚠️ Special Transitional Arrangements for Grade 6 (2027 & 2028)
To avoid disruption, Grade 6 in 2027 and 2028 will operate under transitional arrangements utilizing modules prepared in 2026:
- Elective subjects will initially be selected from Mathematics, Science, ICT, Applied Technology, History, and Literature Appreciation.
- Schools have the administrative discretion to offer elective modules based on available physical and human resources.
- From 2029 onwards, Grade 6 will fully align with the standard permanent subject distribution.
🏛️ Official Source & Document Information
Issuing Authority: Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, Isurupaya, Battaramulla
Document Reference: Circular No. 32/2026 (File Ref: ED/09/12/06/14)
Signatory: Nalaka Kaluwewe, Secretary to the Ministry of Education
Official Web Portal: www.moe.gov.lk
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