"According to international standards, there should only be 35 students in a class. However, we have set our limit at 42. I have received reports that some schools have not adhered to the stipulated limits," he said.

He said that, in some instances, the school authorities had not even included the names of some of the students in their attendance registers.

"I am going to ask the principals of 356 national schools to submit reports on the number of students in each class together with copies of the attendance registers. By 2016, we are required to reduce the number of students in a class to 35 to conform to international standards. Otherwise, we would be unable to achieve our educational objectives," he said.

On the subject of Grade I admissions for 2013, the minister said that the circular in this regard was to be released yesterday.

"We have not introduced any major changes. But, we will strictly implement the rules," he said..

Source: Daily Mirror - Sri Lanka