Education:

The next battle

by Chitrangani MALWENNE ABHAYADEVA

Last year around this time, whenever you left home you were uncertain whether you would ever return. From where I live, 25 km away from the city, you suddenly hear a terrible bomb blast.

You sense that it is somewhere close to the city. You have learnt to stay tuned to the familiar bang. It is as if we were waiting for it. Telephone lines are clogged. You cannot reach the office, schools or your friends. You cannot reach any of your loved ones. You feel desperate.

You wait for somebody to come back from the city. Then the mayhem appears on TV. You contact your neighbours. Yet another explosion? questions are asked. It is on a bus or a train? You are virtually paralysed with anxiety. When will this curse end? You feel so helpless and immobile.

Memories of Sri Lankans are short. The endless traffic blocks, sweating and waiting at check-points for your turn, arriving late at the workplace or being forced to cancel that important appointment...... everybody has experienced this.

At last, now we know that the problem is over. We thank the President for his leadership, foresight, courage and determination and the forces for their role in ending this curse. Credit goes to the tolerance, support and cooperation extended by religious dignitaries and all sectors of the general public including artistes and the common man.

Now everything seems to be fine. You go shopping freely. You visit your friends, relatives. You go on your pilgrimages and on your day-to-day errands without a trace of anxiety.

For the President and for all of us, now it is the time for reconciliation. Time to tackle the refugee issues and overall development of the country. Nation building is uppermost in his mind.

Now or never. He harnesses all resources towards this. Besides building of roadways, bridges, ports, airports, housing complexes and hospitals. he stresses the importance of national unity, national and cultural identity of the Sri Lankans.

Revivals of time tested traditional practices is encouraged. Local traditional food preparations, Ayurvedic treatment, traditional dance, song and drama are given a boost. They have become a part of the daily life. You find Kola Kenda outlets in many places today.

Home gardening, tree planting and care of the environment are given equal attention. Traditional values are upheld. The role of parents, teachers and religious teachers is emphasized.

The President has the vision to realise the importance of early childhood care and education. Recently the President has fulfilled a long- felt need by announcing an allowance for all pre-school teachers.

In addition, it was recently announced that Daham pasal voluntary teachers are to be made permanent. Both are far-reaching decisions. Short and long-term positive effects of high quality early childhood programs have been demonstrated by several decades of research.

The importance of early years, its potency and vulnerability have been proved amply by research on early brain development.

Stability

The continuity of the President’s patronage is essential to implement the nation’s building plan. Today, the need for continued stability is felt as never before in the country.

However, one can smell serious forebodings in the minds of the public. Due to speeches and announcements made currently, just a fortnight before the Presidential election.

Listening to some of the speeches in this election campaign, one realizes how they fan anger, hatred, jealousy, and immoderation.

Attempts to inflame and ignite the minds of the people seem to be the only way out. In no other time ‘right speech’ of the Noble Eight Fold Path has been flagrantly violated as now.

Lying, carrying tales, baseless gossip and use of harsh words is the style adopted. Rational thinking is forced to flee.

It is to the credit of the President, to his background, upbringing, culture and leadership that his speeches reflect Metta (loving kindness), Karuna (compassion), Mudita (sympathetic joy), and Uppekkha (equanimity) - the four divine abidings (Satara Brahma Viharana). You see determination and sometimes a trace of weariness and sadness in the President’s speeches perhaps due to utter lies and harsh words being bantered around.

The President’s speeches reveal restraint, understanding, sympathy, concern and moderation and of course futuristic thinking.

The practice of four divine abidings is the best foundation to build a beautiful Sri Lanka. This is what we need to develop in the minds of the people and in the minds of children today. One cannot ignore the findings of brain research in recent times, which throws light on understanding of the brain and of the human potential. It has been said by neuro-scientists that engaging in compassion meditation (Maitre Bhavana) daily would help to change your brain in important ways.

Piecemeal

Sharon Begley, Science columnist and a senior editor of Newsweek magazine predicts the trickling down of such information to the clinics, schools, and living rooms which would help to sculpt your brain and to understand what it means to be human.

This is where education is so important. Only education could help to pave the way towards such thinking as it has the resources and access to young minds. Education receives high priority among the major areas of development spearheaded by the President.Steps have been taken and are taking place currently towards far-reaching reforms in the education sector. Instead of piecemeal reforms, a comprehensive package has been prepared after carefully scrutinizing the needs of the country.

Papers on 23 important issues in education prepared by the National Education Commission (2003-2004) have been studied.

There has been a series of activities subsequently by the Ministry of Education to find out the realities and possibilities at the grassroots level.

The Education Ministry has obtained the expertise of two Sri Lankan educationists Dr. G.B. Gunawardena and Dr. Upali Sedera to lead these activities.

Both have extensive experience in planning, overseeing, and implementing education projects in several developing countries. It is heartening that the services of Sri Lankan experts are being utilised for this task.

Working relentlessly with education staff at different levels, fact finding, planning, debating, and focusing on critical issues and the needs of the Ministry, provinces, districts, zones and schools, a package for education reforms has been prepared.

The General Education Act embodying these proposals is now with the Legal Draftman.The need for continuity is uppermost as much effort and thinking has already gone into this task. It is futuristic as well.

In education, evidence of development is more evasive and is seen years and decades later unlike in many other areas in development such as housing, roads, ports and tourist villages, where the changes are evident and easily monitored. Education is a fundamental right.

It has been identified as the key to sustainable development, peace and stability within and among countries.

Efficacy

The draft of the Education Act addresses many burning issues such as School admissions, Scholarship exam, school based evaluation, structure of the school system, Training and re-training of teachers, Optimal use of resources, Improving the competencies of Education staff at all levels, Promoting efficacy of monitoring by setting up of manageable units for schools based mainly on the needs of the area, children and teachers, taking into consideration factors such as location, accessibility, student and teacher population. With increased access to secondary education and expansion of the scale of operations in the field of education, certain concerns are inevitable.

These must be constantly scrutinized, discussed and supported by professionals. We need not reiterate that continuity of the President is indispensable for quality development, for the President always thinks of tomorrow and of the future generation. After winning the war with terrorists, he has declared that the next battle is to be fought in the field of Education.

(The writer is a former Director of Education (Primary Curriculum Development) and UNICEF, UNESCO Consultant to Bangladesh and Cambodia)