Education

The system of Education varies from country to country,yet the outcome is imparting knowledge and skills. The following description is a cmparison of this between UK and Sri Lanka.The Education in UK consists of two systems.This is one for England,Wales and Nothern Ireland and the other for Scotland similar to that of in European countries. One important feature of Education in UK is that it is compulsary for all between the age groups of  five to sixteen. This is done by state funded schools and independent (free of charge) schools.The categories of  Education include Pre-school education, Preparatory education, Primary education,Secondary education,Post-sixteen education,Post-eighteen education and then study at either Further or higher education depending of age.Pre-school education is provided by both private and State sector at the age of 3-4years.Usually academic year begins at the end of summer.With regard to their vacations,in UK there are three holidays namely Christmas holiday for two weeks,an equal length of time for Easter holiday whereas Summer holiday goes on for six weeks.The most important exams in Uk are GCE"A" Levels, GCE "AS" Level and AVCEs which are taken of age 17/18. But the GCSEs,GNVQs and GCSEs are usually taken at the age of sixteen. Furthermore the most  famous university in UK isOxford. Most universities located in country side such as East Anglia,Lancaster,Sussex and Warwic provide accormodation for most of the students.

In comparison in Sri Lanka all the nursery schools belong to private sector. The usual age of start for this is three years.The activities include singing,dancing,playing, in addition to studies. The primary school starts at the age of five years and most of them finish about seventeen years.There are three school terms each of which is three months.In between terms There are three ,one month vacation in April,August and December.In our country most important exams are grade five scholarship exam and G.C.E. A Level which decide further education (bottle neck exams). Grade five exam is taken at the age of ten years whereas this is for G.C.E.A Level is seventeen years.In our country the most famous university is the University of Colombo located in the Cpital of Sri Lanka. During their studies the students who are around Colombo live with their parents while the students from far areas reside in hostels.In conclusion ,irrespective of the Education system the outcome will be imparting knowledge with little variations among countries (Ref: O'Driscoll J 1995 "Britain" OUP). 

  

The key environmental features of the Senedd

This unique historical building of Senedd of wales has been built with three environmental features namely the funnel,roof cowl and lantern. The funnel is extending from the roof over the debating chamber. This helps natural day light falling to the space and send out air spontaniously.In addition to this there are some concentric alluminium rings with recessed light fittings inside the funnel.

The wind cowl located in the roof rotates according to the wind direction and this will send hot air out as desired. As a result the inside will have a cooling effect which is environmental friendly.

There is a conical mirror called lantern which reflects more light into the chamber.This can control day light levels either by raising  or lowering according to the broadcasting requirements.

This structure reduces the demand for resources like energy and water with the advance technology. They have adopted this holistic approch which helps getting natural ventelation and cooling the building. On the whole all these features reduce the cost of maintenance by 30%-50%.

www.e-customer-satisfaction.com/w/www.assemblywales.org

Celebrations in the UK

The two celebrations held in the UK that take place anually are Valentine's Day and St David's Day.

           The Valentine's Day which falls on 14th February is marked by sending love messages,great amounts of cards and flowers especially red roses,text love messages with pictures via mobile phones,poems and giftts,chocolates to loved ones and secret lovers not only young girls and young boys but also adults.Today's trend is to send the majority of greetings via SMSs and emails than "snail mail".However the UK has spent about £503m for this and other entertainments.

            The second celebration is the Happy St David's Day ! which is equally important. St. David is known as Dewi Sant in the Welsh language. He was born in the 6th centuary near Capel Non on the South-West Wales coast near the present city of St.David and died in the same century. He is originating from a royal family with a strong religious back ground. He was educated in a monastery called Hen Fynyw and his teacher was a blind monk named Paulinus. Later he founded a monastery where the cathedral city of St.David Stands to day.He was one of many early saints to spread Christianity among the Western Britain. Although a total vegetarian lived a simple life he was tall and quite strong. All the people used to respect him celebrated this special day in some manner. On St. David's Day Primary school children specially girls wore a petticoat and an overcoat and a tall beaver hat whereas boys wore a white shirt with jabbot and a waistcoat,wollen socks with black shoes and flat beaver hat, but this was not compulsory for secondary school.The schools began with a religious service in a chapel and had a leek broth which is the traditional St.David's Day meal at school. In the afternoon they celebrated with Welsh dances,folk songs,poems and leek competitions where secondary school celebrated with all above events and ended with an inter house choir competition in Welsh language.(rhys@highfiddetea.co.uk)

The British Government

David Cameron has been born on the 9th of October 1966. He has had his education at the Oxford University and obtained a first class honours in Philosophy,Politics and Economics.He was the first Lord of the treasury,Minister for the civil service and the leader of the Conservative party.He was elected as the Prim e  minister of the United Kindom at General elction held on the 06th May 2010. He was the youngest Prime Minister at the age of 43 .

Nick  Legg He was born on the 7th January 1967.He was educated at caldicott school in Buckingham and Westminister school in London .Later he had his tertiary Education at the University of Cambridge and obtained a degree in Social Anthropology.He is a British Liberal Democrat polititician and the Member of parliament for Sheffield Hallam. To day he is the Deputy Prime Minister of the UK.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Davidcameron.jpg -en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Clegg

The UK Parliament

                                                  
The UK Parliament popularly known as  "mother of paliaments" located by the side of Thames river in London has been constructed in the 19th century .The main functions of the Parliament are passing all laws,
imposing various taxes and scrutinising the work of the government to mention few.
                  In the United Kindom there are two Houses of Parliaments and they are called House of Commons and House of Lords. Presently the House of Commons has more powers than the House of Lords, although earlier both had almost same powers. However England,Scotland, Nothern Ireland and Wales are the countries which formed the United Kingdom, that has 659 constituencies. While England has 529 contituencies Scotland is having only 72.But the size of these constituencies vary . This is because some large areas have small number of people residing whereas certain other areas are thickly populated. However any party that has the most number of MPs forms the Government after a general election. Even if a candidate gets one vote more than the next, he or she is elected as a MP and this is called the "first past the post" system.

The European Union

The suggestion of forming the United Europe came about after the second world war(1939-45) , because they wanted to introduce a peaceful ,prosperous,strong economics and a political environment. At this time Britain did not want to join the EEC in the 1950s as they were suspicious about loosing their identity and freedom. At the same time French president Charles de Gaulle did not want Britain to join the EEC as he was very partiticular about the nuclear weapons policies with USA. Therefore a referundum which means a process that allows citizens to approve or reject the membership continuation was held for the first time in British political in 1975.Yet some member countries are not mentioned in this passage.They are Switzerland,Norway,Moldowa,Surbia,Albania,Ukraine,Belarus,Iceland,Bosnia and Macedonia. According to the statistics only 40% of the world trade belonged to the EU.                      The European council ,The council of Ministers,the European commission,the European parliament and the European court of Justice are the institutions functioning the EU. While Euroceptic critics argue that Britain's sovereignty and independence are threatened by EU developments and want the repatriation of national rights from the EU back to Britain,Europhile supporters want economic and political integration saying that the EU enables governments to rationalize industrial and agricultural policies. Finally majority of Britains are interested in a referedum on Brtain's continued membership