End to conventional educational system:

A/L Technology stream makes headway - Deputy Education Minister Mohan Lal Grero

By Ranil Wijayapala

Sri Lanka was able to make a change in its education system in the year 2013 by introducing the technology subject stream for the Advance Level students, putting an end to the conventional system which was adapted for decades. Though it was introduced in 2013 that was in high demand during the past two or three decades as the conventional education system could not cater to the much needed human resources required for the job market in the country. Therefore education experts and scholars think that launching of this subject stream would help the country fill the void between the education system and the job requirement of the country, making the education system more relevant to the country and its economic development. The Sunday Observer interviewed Deputy Education Minister Mohan Lal Grero now overseeing this subject stream to know how this subject stream is progressing at present, its future expansion and how it would help the country speed up the development process.

Excerpts of the interview.

Q: How do you see the progress of this technology subject stream?

A: After establishing this subject stream already there are 13,000 students who are following this subject stream. That shows the success of the program. So I think this is one of the most successful launches of a stream in our country.

Q: This subject stream was introduced to reduce the number of students following the arts subjects streams and channel them to other streams. How are you going to plan it out in the next few years?

A: At present the Technology Subject stream has been started only in 250 schools. We are expecting to expand this to 1,000 secondary schools that are already being developed. Ultimately we are expecting to enroll about 40,000 students to follow this technology subject stream. We envisage about 40 percent of the Advance level students following Technology, Maths and Science streams together while the other 35 percent are following the commerce stream. Then we can reduce the arts stream students to 25 percent.

Q: What is the real objective behind reducing the arts stream students?

More A-Level students are expecting to study technology subjects

A: The reason is actually we do not have that much of demand in the job market for the arts students and even for the arts stream graduates. From the 25,000 students enrolled to the conventional universities about 8,500 are reading for arts stream degrees which is not very relevant to the job market. But when you consider the industries and the entrepreneurs and people who are starting new ventures they need a lot of people who are competent in technologies. So there is a huge demand for the technology stream students. The students who had followed the technology stream even after the Advanced Level with some amount of vocational training will find their jobs ready. They very easily can fit into the job market. There will be a demand for them not only locally but also internationally. That is what we are targeting. Therefore we are targeting to make the education more relevant to the job market.

Q: By now you may have got some sort of feedback from the students and teachers about the technology subject stream. What is the feedback?

A: Actually speaking 100 percent students,teachers, principals and parents are really satisfied about the subject stream. Only thing is until we finish these 250 Technology Laboratory Units with workshops we won't be able to conduct a fully fledged course. Because the major component of the syllabus is the practical training and the competency and skills development. At the moment a lot of these students who are following this subject stream in 250 schools visit the closest College of Technology or Technical Colleges or Vocational Training Centres to do their workshop training and other competency building . Theories are done only in the schools. Again instructors and lecturers from those institutions visit these schools and they conduct lectures and other lessons to these students together with the teachers of the Education Ministry. Recently we appointed the about 550 teachers to Engineering Technology and Bio System technology streams and Science for Technology. So we looked for 600 teachers and out of that we appointed 550.

From March we are starting to building technology laboratory units which will cost about Rs.60 million each. Already the Asian Development Bank loan facility is allocated for this project and we are getting US $ 200 million to complete this project.

Q: By having only 250 Technology laboratories in 250 schools how are you going to expand this subject stream to 1,000 schools ?

A: After building these 250 laboratories in 250 schools that will be utilized only for two days by that particular school. These 250 schools will be spread equally around the country by having one laboratory unit for a DS Division. Each Divisional Secretary Division has about three secondary schools which are getting Mahindodaya Technical Laboratory. Out of these 1000 schools we have already selected 250 schools to start the Technology stream. Therefore, around each technology laboratory unit there will another two secondary schools. What we can do is we can conduct theory classes there and students can visit the nearby laboratory to do their practicals during other days. Two days are enough for their practicals workshops and training. During weekends and evenings we can use these laboratories for a lot of other purposes. For example we can use these laboratories to conduct National Vocational Qualification classes for the students who have not been successful in their ordinary Level examinations. These laboratories will be well equipped to cater to those requirements also. That means we can expand this upto 1,000 schools.

Q: What are the challenges the Ministry is facing when implementing this subject stream?

A: If technology stream is not there the students who could have enrolled to the arts streams are now coming to technology streams. We find in some schools there is a resistance for students leaving the arts stream to join the technology stream. This situation has been created by some arts teachers thinking that the number of students in their tuition classes will be reduced. They are trying to keep the students with the arts stream. With that fear they spread rumors saying that the particular subject stream will not be a successful one. They say there won't be any path for them to proceed afterwards.

Q: Is there any truth behind those rumors?

A: There is no truth at all in these rumours. We have already organised several pathways for them to go upto degree level even though they fail in the Advance level after following this stream. Even if they get through the engineering technology subject or biotechnology subject and could not get three passes they can very easily join National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority for the six month on-the-job training in any any industry. After six months training the Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission will offer them NVQ level III certificate. They will get that after two years study in the stream and getting through technology subject and six months implant training. Then they can join a Technical College or College of Technology and within eight months they can do NVQ IV. Then they can go to the UNIVOTEC to do the NVQ V and VI which is Diploma Level and Higher National Diploma level. If they fail the examination they will not fail in their life.

Q: With the launch of the new technology subject stream a degree it programme will also be started in 2016. How is this process going on?

A: Even before starting this particular phase we started negotiating with the Higher Education Ministry a and the University Grants Commission and had lot of meetings with university Dons and Deans. The syllabuses of this stream were also prepared by the University professors. UGC promised in 2016, after these university students do their A/L examinations, 1,500 vacancies in universities for these students. They are already preparing syllabuses for a Technology Degree. What they are going to offer is Bachelor of Science in technology for the students. The cream of these students after doing the A/L who get the highest Z score will follow BSc (Technology) degree. The students who at least pass the examination with three passes can go to the University Colleges which are established by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development. Already 10 such universities are established. The entry qualification for the university colleges is either NVQ IV or three passes in Technology stream. So there are 7,500 vacancies from university colleges. The University colleges will conduct courses for NVQ V, VI and VII . NVQ VII is equivalent to a degree. Going through that path they can obtain Bachelor of Technology degree. BSc (Technology). Those are the avenues which are available for the students if they pass the examination.

Q: The students with best O/L results have also been encouraged to follow this subject stream. So there is perception that they will end up without becoming technical assistants instead of engineers and doctors. What is your opinion?

A:That is the perception of the people, that the engineering degree is more prestigious than the other degrees which is not. Actually now the Higher education Ministry is establishing Sri Lanka Qualification Framework (SLQF). There all these degrees are at SLQF V level. That means they are equal. Nobody can say that one particular degree is higher than another. All these degrees need a particular specifications and standards which is required by the SLQF to fit into that particular level of the SLQF. So BSc (engineering) or BSc (Technology) or Bachelor of Science degrees need all these specifications. Therefore this Bachelor of Technology syllabus should need the specifications and the standards which are required by the SLQF V level. Then automatically nobody can say it is inferior to the Bsc engineering.

Q: Do you think that with the introduction of the Technology subject stream we can move out from the conventional thinking about the education system ?

A: There will be more innovation, thinking anew, exploring the environment and finding new things. We again train these students to understand their capabilities, the resources of their villages and how to develop and add value to the products of their villages. They can live in their village after following this course and start their own enterprises and use raw materials that are found in that particular area and start more industries. That sort of thinking is going to be given to these students. Entrepreneurship will be there in the syllabuses if they are willing to take this.

Q: How do you think the introduction of this subject stream would contribute to speed up the development process of the country ?

A: Sri Lanka is reaching towards a middle income level country. When a country is reaching a middle income level there is a problem called middle income trap. When a country reaches a middle income level everybody has a certain standard job and everybody has their basic needs satisfied. So they will not strive to achieve more. Then the economy will become stagnant. That we call the middle income trap. It has happened to South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, all those countries. But they overcome this problem by developing their human resources. That enables them to leave their mentality and condition their mindset to go forward. If we give these innovative thinking to the younger generation they think that they have to do something. Then they can pass the middle income level and go to higher position. This is very important when you consider the economic situation of our country. We should develop our human resources, specially technology so they can develop these industries.

Q: We see lot of educated youth who have opted to find easy jobs such as three wheel operators and taxi drivers. Don't you think this will be a problem for the country in the future ?

A: Our country has a very low unemployment rate. Almost less than six percent of the entire population is unemployed. We have an unemployment level below the global level. But when we consider the youth unemployment rate, it is about 19 percent. Between 18 and 24 years the unemployment rate is about 25 percent. That means lot of educated youth are unemployed. On the other hand there are so many job vacancies in the construction industry, IT field, and Business Process Outsourcing and hospitality industry. There is a huge demand for those fields. If these educated youth after successfully completing their Advance Level, change their attitude to use their hands also they very easily can be absorbed into these jobs. For example a youth who is qualified upto NVQ 4 get over Rs.50,000 initial salary. Our people's thinking is to get a white collar job. We have to facilitate blue collar jobs also. To do that we have to change the mindset of the parents and the population to eradicate the social stigma attached to blue collar jobs. Now this is happening because when we improve the vocational training and integrate it to the general education system automatically students also like to do such jobs. Lot of students like to have f ield visits rather than sitting and writing in the classrooms. These students following the technology subjects also have to complete a field visit to industry to see how those industries are functioning.

Q: We see in countries such as Malaysia and Korea multinational companies working together with higher education institutions of those countries to produce the human resource they need. Do you think that such trend is developing in our country also?

A: In those countries that particular industry is looking for tailor made employees. That should happen at the tertiary education level. That is called public private partnership. Youth Affairs and Skills Development Ministry is now in a big way trying to connect the public sector and private sector. We are going to establish 25 University Colleges in the country and out of that, five will be public private partnership.

We have already established a university like that with Sri Jayawardhanapura hospital. We have started bio medical engineering and bio-medical technologist courses which have a high demand both locally and internationally.

We are going to have public private partnership in the printing industry and also for the construction industry. We have already negotiated and MOUs have already been signed. Like that we are popularising public private partnership.

Q: Are you confident that this new subject stream will be a success?

A: I am very confident and I think this should have started 20 or 30 years ago.