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DateLine Sunday, 23 December 2007

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Critical issues of education in Sri Lanka

Prof. S. T. Hettige's article in the Sunday Observer of December 16 with the above title deserves serious and immediate attention of all those involved in the field of education from educational policy-makers to teachers and parents, for it on the one hand addresses some of the paramount important issues and contains certain lapses on the other.

Though his standpoint seems to be rather sociological than educational, he quite convincingly explains several critical issues: language skills, life skills, citizenship education, equity and dysfunctional peeking order of subjects.

However, in my point of view, his deliberations are not comprehensive enough to understand the carbuncular ulcers of the present system of education that have eaten into the body of the nation creating the festering situation as is experienced today.

In other words, his article only deals with the crust of the issues but not the very crux of them. This therefore needs an attempt to delve into the fulcrum of the problems in order to unearth the phenomena that cause them with the purpose of evolving a fitting system of education to suit the country.

Philosophy of education

To begin with, it is appropriate to pose the question whether the present education system of the country is based on any educational philosophy suitable for the country.

Scrutiny of the education systems prevalent in countries such as America, Japan, China and even India shows us that the foundation for these systems has been laid on a home sprung educational philosophy.

Therefore, all the prevailing educational issues of the country seem to stem from this lapse because it is this philosophy that steers the education system for the formulation of educational goals and aims.

It is high time the people concerned initiate an endeavour to probe into the principal components of such a philosophy. For this, the sociocultural and geopolitical aspects of the country must be taken into account with a broad perspective with an integration of both present and future needs of the country and its people.

Eurocentric models

The issues discussed by Prof. Hettige are direct results of the wrong education models the country has adopted over the years. An in-depth study into the structure and content of the present education system accounts for the fact that it is still more or less a legacy of the British education system.

It is disheartening to note that even the educational reforms formulated in the 1990s are based on the concepts and models introduced in the west. The most unfortunate situation is that in these reforms attempts have been made to look at educational goals and needs of the country from standpoint of these Eurocentric models.

For example, many of the core areas mentioned in the Dellors' report were integrated into them. I do not however argue that we must completely deviate from the educational concepts and models which have emerged elsewhere in the world. But they have to be productively embodied into our system of education to suit our own needs.

It is therefore very essential for us to construct models of education that can cater to the needs of the country.

Language skills

It is quite true that, as Prof. Hettige observes, there are problems associated with teaching a second language. This is an issue that must be dealt with in a separate article.

However, his idea that "all efforts that have been made to rectify the situation have failed and there are no signs of any concerned effort being made at present' cannot be accepted.

He seems to have ignored the attempts taken by the Ministry of Education to introduce the English medium (bilingual) education which is now in operation over 250 schools in many parts of the country.

The first batch of these students sat the GCE Ordinary Level Examination this year. One of the objectives of the introduction of English medium education is to improve the English language standard of the students, which, according to the writer's observation, has yielded goods results.

The writer has observed these students in a number of schools such as Bandaranaike N.S. in Gampaha, Bandaranaike N.S. in Veyangoda, Vidyaloka MV in Pattalagedara, St. Joseph's College, St. Mary's College, Swarnajayanthi MV, Kegalu Vidyalaya and Kegalu Girls' School in Kegalle, and noticed remarkable progress of the students in the use of the English language.

It is really interesting to see them discussing, clarifying and explaining the things in English and taking part in debates, arguments and giving presentations. I am not in the opinion that they speak. 'Queen's English,' yet they have mastered excellent communicative skills in English.

The experience gained from these students provides new vistas for us to reflect on why we have failed in achieving the expected results in teaching as a second language over the years.

What Prof. Hettige surveys in relation to the teaching of citizenship education in the present curriculum contain some factual errors.

He says that 'Basic values and ideas connected with modern society such as secularism, equality and fairplay, tolerance of diverse religion and culture have not been included' in the present school curriculum.

The National Institute of Education has taken steps to introduce this multi cultural aspect of the society by bringing in a new series of textbooks. At the same time, citizenship education is now a core subject area for the students in Grade 6, 7, 8 and 9 classes, and it can be selected by the students for the GCE Ordinary Level examination as well. Almost all the themes mentioned by Prof. Hettige have been included into the present curriculum.

The underlying problem is how a national identity with the integration of all cultural aspects of the country be brought in the setup of segregation schools in the country. This has been tried in Ireland but by establishing integrated schools, and fruitful results have been achieved. This area needs new research to find out the plausible avenues of teaching multiculture in an ethnically divided nation.

Equality of education

Apparently, there is an immense disparity in the distribution of educational resources between the urban and rural schools. However, this in certain aspects can be considered as a misnomer. For example, there are a large number of schools in the Colombo district itself with meagre or few facilities.

As analysis done by the Department of Examination shows that there are over 4,000 students in the Colombo district who failed all the subjects in the GCE Ordinary Level examination last year. Therefore, this problem is not confined to the rural youth but there is a tendency even for a greater number of urban youth to become 'victims to anti systematic elements.

What we must understand is the fact that the problem of the equality of education is more complicated than it appears.

All these facts boil down to the idea that there is an urgent need to evolve a suitable system of education for the country. This can be done only after a thorough study of the present educational ills and future needs of the country and its future generation, based on an appropriate educational philosophy.

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