In 2011, the SC ruled that the maximum number of students in a grade one class should be 35.

However, by a circular issued in 2016, Kariyawasam instructed that the number of students in a class be reduced by one student per year to reach the 35-students-a-class target by 2021.

That circular also instructs for the increase of grade one classes in a school.

CTU secretary Joseph Stalin says in actual fact, the circular has only increased the number of attendance registers.