Daily News Editorial

New horizons in education

13 February 2017

Speaking in Parliament last week, Justice and Buddhasasana Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe alluded to a “Mongol” (idiotic/retarded) education system that prevails in the country. Using the popular vernacular expression for a crazy person or idea, Rajapakshe rightly noted several shortcomings in the local education sector. Sri Lanka’s free education system has been universally hailed, but this does not mean that it is without any problems.

The Minister explained to Parliament that the system was retarded because while some schools have all the facilities many others are without them. This has given rise to the so-called “elite or popular schools” in the main cities which are deemed superior to the village schools attended by the local hoi polloi. There is a mad scramble for admission to the elite schools, with parents resorting to all kinds of malpractices. Recently, seven officials attached to a leading school in Colombo were detained following reports of irregularities in the admissions process.

This imbroglio can only be addressed by developing all schools islandwide on an equal footing. This will obviate the need to admit children to popular schools, which apparently have all human resources and physical resources that are not available in rural schools. The lack of places at popular Government schools has compelled many parents with a disposable income to enroll their children in international or private schools a considerable expense.

The Minister may not have referred directly to the other major problem with our education system – there is a vast mismatch between qualifications of the students who pass out from schools and universities and the demands of the job market. If you glanced through the Employment Opportunities pages of our sister newspaper The Sunday Observer yesterday, you would have noticed that hundreds of vacancies are available. Some advertisements appear for weeks in a row apparently because the employer cannot find a suitable applicant. This means that there is a shortcoming with regard matching job market requirements.

This calls for offering a wider gamut of job-oriented subjects in schools and universities. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has always advocated such changes in the education system, said last week that the Government hopes to give schools the freedom to choose the subjects they need to teach in their respective institutions.

He said the government might focus on introducing subjects such as dress designing and hair dressing to schools. This way students studying for the Advanced Level could learn the basics before attending vocational training centres covering these subjects. “What we hope to do is to give you the opportunity to plan your career in the school itself,” the Prime Minister told a gathering of students in Kandy. He said the Government was focusing on ensuring that children obtain employment as soon as they leave school. The Government also plans to distribute tablet computers preloaded with syllabus materials initially among A/L students and later, among lower grade students.

It is indeed the time to get rid of archaic concepts on education that may hinder the sector’s growth - and the opportunities available to students. One of the major misconceptions is that education, especially higher education, should be the exclusive preserve of the State.

Private schools have existed in this country for many decades without any objections being raised from any quarter. There are also many ‘international’ schools even in far-off towns although there were many allegations and concerns regarding a lack of regulations for these schools. This problem too has largely been addressed. A large number of private higher educational institutions, some of them with degree awarding status, also exist without any complaints. Only the medical degree has become a bone of contention.

The attacks by sections of the Opposition and the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) on the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) really makes no sense given the deafening silence of the GMOA and other such bodies on the medical studies unit attached to the Kotelawala Defence University (KDU). Besides, SAITM was not established during this Government’s tenure. It was established when Mahinda Rajapaksa was President, though he has now done a U-turn on it. Many of those who vociferously oppose the SAITM now, heartily supported it when it was established.

President Maithripala Sirisena has now stepped in to resolve the impasse over SAITM, announcing the appointment of a committee of experts to study and report on all aspects of SAITM. This is a commendable move, since there are many arguments for and against SAITM that need to be assessed properly. An impartial panel of observers will be able to form a more rational opinion of SAITM than others who see it through coloured glasses. They will perhaps find a way to appease both camps and work out a compromise solution.

Such a solution is essential because this issue has been immensely disruptive to the education system, with university students propelled by unseen political hands to demonstrate against SAITM. It would be in the best interests of the entire education system to resolve this matter sooner rather than later.