Who will keep them in check?

Mushrooming ‘international schools’

by Sajitha PREMATUNGE

International schools in Sri Lanka have been mushrooming of late like Chinese restaurants! But apart from a few leading international schools, their standards as well as discipline are now in question with more international schools with substandard infrastructure and human resources being established. It is no wonder that most of the teachers employed in these schools, at minimum wages, lack the basic qualifications.

The Association of International Schools was set up against such dilution of quality. “All member schools of our Association maintain very high standards”, said Chairman, Association of International Schools, Dr. Frank Jayasinghe. High standards are required and only 22 schools have obtained membership.

He explained that when a certain school requests for membership, a team from the Association is sent to the school to observe their standards.

“Everything from the qualifications of their staff, standard of their infrastructure such as laboratories, computer facilities and even toilet facilities are taken into consideration,” said Dr. Jayasinghe. Then the team visits the school after one year.

“If the requisite standards are not maintained the first to complain about it would be the parents. And if any complaints come to us and if the requisite standards are not maintained we terminate their membership.”

“Parents opt to send their children to international schools due to the provision of English medium education and also due to the fact that they are not able to get their children to a good government school”, said Principal of Leeds International School, Panadura and former Principal of Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo, M.N. Edussuriya.

The Education Ministry had taken the initiative to develop a set of national guidelines for international schools, unfortunately they were never implemented.”

She pointed out that the standard of education, resources and discipline vary from school to school and that the performance of ‘international schools’ cannot be generalised.

“Some schools are better than others. Some employ qualified teachers for better salaries while others do not”, she said. As a result, the standard of education and in fact the overall performance of the schools differ.

Sri Lankan culture

“As an international school we decided on an English medium education with Sri Lankan culture and values as a base”, explained Principal Edussuriya. She claimed that although the majority of students in Leeds, Panadura are Sinhala Buddhists, “They are tolerant to all religions and races. We strive to bring amity among all religions.”

Writing off another popular notion that ‘international schools’ educated their children for an alien culture, Principal Edussuriya said that one should not make such sweeping statements about international schools.

“When we teach history to our children, we teach Sri Lankan history. The general notion about international schools is that they have ‘bad discipline’ but the truth is that different schools have different backgrounds.”

As a former principal of a leading government school, Edussuriya said that the only difference between the standard of reputed international schools and leading government schools is the competition.

“There is a lot of competition in Visakha and other leading schools of Colombo. The environment is such that children are forced to work.” She said that the allegation that international schools do not focus on extra-curricular activities such as sports is no longer a truth as they have improved dramatically.

“The Ministry of Education should intervene to formulate a national standard”, she said. “Parents would prefer, in fact be very happy, to send their children to government schools if their standards are improved.”

Just a tool

“English language is just a tool”, said Asoka Weerasinghe, Principal, Lyceum International School. “We at Lyceum emphasise Sri Lankan culture. We use English language only as a tool.”

“The term ‘international schools’ is an unfortunate term”, said Principal, British International School, Colombo, Andrew Fowler-watt. “The British International School is a local school”, he explained. “In any other country it would have been a school in which education was conducted in a foreign medium - English.”

Fowler-watt explained that this is not the only misconception regarding ‘international schools’. “There is a huge variety of ‘international schools’ considering the availability of human resources and infrastructure as well as the cost involved in educating a child in a certain school.”

Regarding the issue of discipline, while admitting that discipline is essential for any school, he also pointed out that good ‘international schools’ are often misunderstood.

He claimed that he likes to establish proactive discipline instead of reactive discipline. Many schools make the mistake of waiting for someone to do something wrong and then punish the person involved. “But I believe in building an environment conducive for avoiding such situations.”

With 25 years experience in teaching in Britain, he said that it would be sensible to develop a channel of communication with the Government.

“Sri Lanka’s education system can gain a lot from exposure to international education”, he said. “I hope to settle down in Sri Lanka and do my best for Sri Lankan education. I love working with young Sri Lankans. And educational achievements are extremely important for Sri Lankan parents,” he said.