Education Development Strategies in Asian Countries in the New Century-Sri Lanka 

1. Introduction

 Sri Lanka has now achieved the highest literacy rate in South Asia that is 92.5%.  According to the most recent survey, only 38% of the population is below primary education level and 20% of the population possesses post secondary education. The main contributory factor for this achievement is the free education system in Sri Lanka.

The long term priorities of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka are to eradicate extreme poverty achieving universal primary education promoting gender equity in education and human resource development by developing competencies to be highly employable in the globally competitive world.

Organization Structure

Minister in charge of the subject of Education in Sri Lanka is Her Excellency the President. The Ministry of Education (MoE) is in charge of the General Education, Higher education and Higher Technological Education.

Mission of the MoE

The mission of the MoE is the “Development and Implementations of a system of education with equity and excellence, imparting knowledge, skills attitudes and values to realize one’s potential to the maximum in order to face successfully the challenges with self reliance in an increasingly interdependent world while preserving the national identity.”

 2. General Education

Historical background

Compulsory basic education and free education was introduced in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in 1943.  The existing education system is a result of several waves of reforms. The national education system underwent several phases of reform since independence in 1948. In 1972 the 1^st Five Year Plan for education was introduced with curriculum reforms. In the decade of 1980’s National Institute of Education (NIE) was established under Act No. 28 of 1985 for curriculum development and research in education. The National Education Commission (NEC) was established under Act No. 19 of 1991 to advise the President on education policy.

The most recent reforms in Education took place in 1998 primarily targeting improving the quality of public education, strengthening service delivery and improving the economic and social relevance of the institutions at all levels.

Current Status

As a result of the above reforms, enrolments in primary, junior and secondary education have improved while dropout rates have declined. The primary education enrolment ratio has increased, while the drop out ratio declined.

By end 2003, there were 10,475 functioning schools, including private schools and pirivenas.(religious schools for Buddhist monks) )  The student population in all schools was 4, 098,000  in 2003. On average there is a school for every 6 sq km in the country.  The average number of students per government school was 402 in 2003. The pupil /teacher ratio in public schools was 21 in 2003. At end 2003, there were 85 private schools with 55,725 students.

With a view to reducing the regional disparities in the education system, several steps have been taken to improve educational infrastructure facilities in the plantation sector, junior secondary schools in rural areas, and schools in conflict affected areas.  The development of a few selected schools on a district basis also continued as a country strategy for reducing congestion in urban schools, especially in main towns. Teacher training and skills development have been recognized as vital factors for effective implementation of education policy. To overcome the existing shortage of trained and qualified teachers, in 2003, a total of 3,848 trainees have been admitted to colleges of education. Foreign training opportunities were also provided to teachers and principals. Although there is an excess of teachers in general, shortages of teachers exit in the areas of English, Aesthetic Studies and in technical subjects. As proposed in the educational reforms, action is also being taken to rectify those disparities.

In view of recent productivity growth in developed and emerging economies, largely attributable to the adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), a need has arisen to develop ICT training at the school level. During 2003, a total of 292 information technology centers were established in schools, and 1,800 teachers were provided with training on information technology.

The second General Education Project funded by the World Bank continued to provide assistance in curriculum development, publication of text books, rationalization of schools, supply of quality inputs particularly teaching materials in subjects such as Science Mathematics, Environmental  Science and English to schools, development of libraries and educational research and studies. The World Bank funded Teacher Education and Teacher Deployment Programmer financed projects  designed for rationalization of teacher deployment, improvement of teacher education, and strengthening of administration and management in teacher education institutions, The secondary Education Modernization Project continued in 2003, implementing several programmers for the improvement of the quality of education by strengthening the teaching and learning process.

Student welfare programmers, such as distribution of free uniforms, textbooks, and provision of subsidized bus season tickets, were continued in 2003. Total government expenditure on these programmers amounted to Rs.1.820 million in 2003. A multiple textbook system was introduced in 2003 to encourage students towards self – learning.

The Government has tripled the budgetary provisions for education during the last decade. Total government expenditure on education, including higher education, was Rs.39,116 million in 2003, a 5.1 per cent increase over the previous year. Total expenditure as a per cent of GDP was 2.2% in 2003. Expenditure at present per student as a proportion of national per capita income in primary and secondary education is around 11% and 10% for university education.

The general education sector was hit with a serious blow by the Tsunami disaster in December 2004 completely damaging 68 schools in 11 Districts, partly damaging 105 schools. A large number of schools were taken for housing of refugees as well.  The total estimated cost to rebuild these schools has been estimated at Rs. 1131 Million.

New Policy Initiatives

New policy initiatives of the MoE  for school education are,

1.        Competitive based budgeting mechanism to national colleges of education

2.        Equitable resource distribution to support quality process at schools by extending current Formula Funding Mechanism

3.        Establishment of education sector planning, medium level budgetary framework and public expenditure and quality education tracking system

4.        Implementation of school based management through school improvement program giving more autonomy to schools for decision making.

5.        Introduce comprehensive teacher development framework incorporating on site teacher development activities

3. Higher Education.

Vision

The vision of the Government of Sri Lanka on Higher education is “To modernize university education and to provide courses that produce graduates who are highly employable and competitive amongst their peers globally” .

Universities  

In the higher education sector, the Apex body of the Universities is the University Grant Commission (UGC) established under the Universities Act. Apart from the exercise performance and discharge of powers vested under the Act, the objectives of the UGC are the planning and coordination of the University education, apportionment of funds  for Universities and financial control, maintenance of academic standards, regulation of administration regulation of student admissions.  

There were only 15 Universities in Sri Lanka in 2003 and it has now risen to 17 with the establishment of 1 University for Visual and Performing Arts and 1  for Agriculture this year.

Current Status

Sri Lanka’s higher education is basically public sector driven and Government is the sole operator of accredited universities in Sri Lanka at present. All 14 national universities and the Open University are run by the public sector

Issues

Due to limited opportunities available at the universities, there exists a large excess demand for university education and a large majority of the eligible youth is deprived of higher education. For example, in 2004, a total of 199,937 candidates appeared for the G.C.E. (A/L) examination. Of these, 44 per cent obtained the minimum qualifications required entering a national university, but only 14,850  students, 13.7% per cent of eligible students, were granted admission to national universities. This is 7.4% of the total number of students who sat the Examination.

Meanwhile, the existing university system in Sri Lanka has produced a large number of graduates who could not be employed unless further job related training is provided. This is due to a lack of curriculum reforms in line with changing needs of the labor market, lack of choice of courses, and resource constraints to implement reforms. Therefore, a large number of Sri Lankan students who can afford foreign university education leave the island annually. Due to the present level of economic development in Sri Lanka, many cannot afford foreign university education, thus barring them from acquiring skills needed to meet the growing demand for human capital. Hence, fostering competitive accredited universities with private sector participation could generate human capital needed for Sri Lanka’ s own development, and could also be an important tradable service.

The dependence on the state sector solely for funding the universities without exploring alternative sustainable sources has created a major impediment for the university system to keep pace with the developments in the rest of the world.

Approaches

The approaches of the UGC to address these issues are as follows.

1.        Broad base secondary education to provide basic exposure in mathamatics  science, commerce, accounting etc.

2.        Register and grant Degree awarding status to Private Higher Academic Institutions.

3.        Make it possible for students taking vocational  training to earn transferable credits to other universities

4.        Invite reputable universities from overseas to establish satellite campuses

5.        Establish active meaningful partnerships on staff student exchange program with overseas faculties and reputed universities

6.        Modify the Universities Act

Under these approaches, 17 new degree programs will be commenced in 2006 to enroll 285 students.

 Sri Lanka’s state sector Universities also suffer from a problem of retaining the services of competent academics. These are the strategies being adopted by the UGC beginning from 2004 to overcome this issue.

 Establishment of a strong, research promoting administration

 Research training workshops for young academics

 Selection of staff for local/ Foreign training

 Linkages with local laboratories exhibiting excellence in research

 Continuous annual assessment of research productivity

Award of direct funds for Departments based on PhD Degrees produced by them

Human resource development

Foreign Financial Assistance

Action has been taken to improve the quality and relevance of university education under the IRQUE Project funded by the World Bank. Under this program, block grants have been allocated to universities to improver English, ICT, Social harmony, student learning environment, facilities for disabled staff and students etc. Steps are also being taken to improve the quality of ndergraduates by improving their “SOFT” skills, such as common sense, an analytical and innovative mind, a global outlook, leadership and interpersonal skills.

Also, another Foreign funded Project is in implementation for the improvement of Distant Learning  with the objectives of  Support new learning technologies, Expand public private Partnerships, Expand  existing facilities and modernize the administrative procedure of the Open University System, Support external degree programs, assist universities and qualified public and private post secondary educational institutions to go towards a dual mode.

 Private Sector Involvement in Higher Education

The private sector is mainly engaged in the provision of professional education, particularly in the areas of accountancy, management and information technology. Although there are provisions in the existing Universities Act to recognize degree courses conducted by private institutions, the process for this is not clear. UGC has now granted degree-awarding status to a few institutions to conduct some particular courses. Meanwhile, some private institutions conduct courses leading to degrees in collaboration with foreign universities. However, it is expected that the quality and market relevance of degree programs conducted by public and private universities will be improved in a competitive environment although there is resistance to this change.

In addition to state-run universities, there are several other public and private institutions, which conduct courses mainly relating to information technology and some other professional subjects. The Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology enrolled 2,700 new students to its IT based courses. New admissions to courses in the Open University were 11,000 in 2003. In addition, the Institute of chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, the National Institute of Business Management, and the Sri Lanka Law College were the major providers of professional education.

Higher Technological Education  

Apart from the above, higher technological education is also the responsibility of the MoE. The Higher Educational Sector is headed by the Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technological Education (SLIATE)  a statutory body. This was established in 1995 to foster the Advanced Technological Education at post Secondary Level.  At present it manages 11 advanced Technological Institutes and 7 Sections to offer higher National Diplomas and National Diplomas in Technology based courses of study. The Mission of the SLIATE is “Education training and certification of competent technological personnel with healthy attitudes for national development”.

The objectives of the SLIATE  are to,

Conduct Higher National Diploma and National Diploma Courses,

Plan and coordinate the Higher Technological Education in Sri Lanka,

and

Conduct and award Higher National and National Diplomas.

Basically this is the only institution in Sri Lanka producing middle level technicians to meet the demand in the labor market. Most importantly, this institution absorbs a part of the students who are unable to gain entrance to the university system annually.

As the percentage so absorbed is only 1-2% at present, SLIATE’s long term plan is to set up an Advanced Technological Institute in each District by the end of 2010 producing 25,000 Higher National /National Diploma holders in Technological Education by 2010 addressing the issue of high drop out rate.

A major plan is now underway to develop these institutions with foreign funding to establish at least one Center of excellence of Higher Technological Education in Each District. The 1^st step of this will be the conversion of the Advanced Technological Institute (ATI) in the Eastern Province to a Center for Excellence in Agro Based Technological Education.

Conclusion

The Government of Sri Lanka greatly appreciates the assistance received through international cooperation for the development of the education in Sri Lanka.  In this instance Government of Sri Lanka express sincere appreciation of the generous assistance received from the People’s Republic of China in terms of Educational Cooperation especially by way of Graduate and Post Graduate Scholarships, and various opportunities provided for human resource development in the education sector. Also the Government of Sri Lanka gratefully acknowledges again the kind offer to set up a Confucius Institute in Sri Lanka for which the MOU has now been signed and necessary arrangements are now being initiated.