ADB to provide $ 500m financial support
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) last week finalised a combined $500
million financial support to the government's reforms and development
initiatives.
The agreements on two key projects were signed by Finance Ministry
Secretary Dr P. B. Jayasundera and ADB President Takehiko Nakao in
Manila.

Under the Education Sector Development Program, the ADB loans will
finance the development of a national student assessment framework,
which integrates school assessments with external exams to improve pass
rates, and introduce a technology stream to allow secondary school
graduates to move 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 be
trained to improve school leadership, management, and planning, and a
financing facility will be developed to maintain upgraded equipment and
facilities.
The ADB has recognised the issues in the education sector and the
assistance needed. According to Country Director of the ADB office in
Sri Lanka, Rita O' Sullivan, the current system needs a major overhaul
so that young people with skills could enter the labour market once they
move on from secondary schools. This is now essential in this 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
Government's 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. 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.
Currently 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. |