A National school (Sinhala: ජාතික පාසල, Jathika Pasala, Tamil: தேசியப் பாடசாலை) in Sri Lanka is a school that is funded and administered by the Ministry of Education of the central government as opposed to run by the local provincial council. These schools provide secondary education (some including collegiate), with some providing primary education as well. The classification began in 1985, with 18 schools being designated as national schools. Today, there are 373 National Schools in country constituting 3 percent of total National and Provincial Schools.