ADB grants $ 200 m loan for secondary schools
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $ 200 million in loans
to help the Government revamp its secondary school system to check youth
unemployment and meet the country’s urgent need for a skilled workforce.
“The current system needs a major overhaul so that young people will
have the skills to enter the labour market once they move on from
secondary schools,” said Country Director, ADB office in Sri Lanka, Rita
O’ Sullivan.
“This is now essential in a digital age where technological skills
and knowledge are at the heart of successful and sustainable economies.”
The loan marks the first results-based lending program approved by the
ADB.
Payments will be linked to the achievement of results such as the
roll out of a full curriculum in schools, implementation of a technology
stream, or training principal teachers. The program supports the
Education Sector Development Framework and Program for 2013-2017.
Sri Lanka has achieved universal primary enrolment in elementary
schooling and high literacy rates. It has also invested heavily in
modernising secondary school infrastructure, but at the senior secondary
level, completion and pass rates are less impressive.
Just six percent of students entering grade one each year make it to
university, and about a third of all school graduates enter the labour
market without proper academic qualifications or skills training,
resulting in a jobless rate of 18% among 15 to 24-year-olds.
Many schools, particularly in rural areas do not offer the key
subjects of science, mathematics, and English, which makes it difficult
for graduates to move into post secondary education. Many schools also
lack the facilities such as fully equipped classrooms or science
laboratories to provide modern and relevant schooling.
Under the Education Sector Development Program, ADB’s loans will
finance the development of a national student assessment framework,
which integrates school assessments with external exams to improve pass
rates, and it will introduce a technology stream to allow secondary
school graduates to move more easily into vocational courses.
School facilities will be upgraded and training and placement of
teachers carried out to raise the number of students studying science
and commerce. School principals and education agency staff will get
training to improve school leadership, management and planning, and a
financing facility will be developed to ensure that upgraded equipment
and facilities are maintained properly.
ADB’s loans comprise $100 million from ordinary capital resources and
$100 million from its concessional Asian Development Fund. The
Government of Sri Lanka’s overall program is set to cost $4.9 billion. |