Foreign Education reforms: not to copy cat but to adapt...

by Sajitha Prematunge

In spite of so many educational reforms in the past, most of the produce of the Sri Lankan education system still lack practical, social, political and cultural awareness. The main problem with educational reforms is the conservativeness of Sri Lankan society.

No educational reform by any government was welcomed with open arms. For an effective educational reform the Sri Lankan society has to first undergo a conceptual transformation.

Professor J. A. P. Jayasinghe senior lecturer and head of Anatomy St. George's Faculty of Medical and Biomedical Sciences University of London and member of Court of Examiners Royal College of Surgeons England UK, (in Sri Lanka with eleven other British examiners to conduct Member of Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) examination in Colombo) told the Sunday Observer that the current education system is an "exam mad" system where everything depends on passing A/Ls.

He said that the advanced level examination is a bottle-neck, where out of about 100,000 students only 20,000 get through. He refers to this as vertical entries and in the process nearly 80,000 students are left behind. But during the past few decades developed countries like UK have been trying to alter this.

According to Professor Jayasinghe they have already created a university system in which lateral entries are made possible.

Professor Jayasinghe told the Sunday Observer that a persons mental age does not always correspond with a persons physical age, a person may have lower intelligence than usual for his or her age. In other countries if you fail in one examination there are other options.

Students can sit for foundation degree examinations such as Nursing and Biomedical. Since these students have continually shown their enthusiasm by selecting science related subjects, after graduation these degree holders are eligible to be interviewed for the Medical degree course.

These are lateral entries. Professor Jayasinghe explained that no amount of increments in the intakes or universities would be of any use unless there are lateral entries.

Education in Sri Lanka, after all the reforms, is still to a great extent teacher based. In education systems like that of UK and other developed countries, priority is given to students. The choice of subjects lie with the students, not their parents, friends or the government.

There is also a four year fast track degree for which students are selected by an aptitude test. Background knowledge of medical science is not a prerequisite. The students may be musicians or Charted Accountants.

They are taught, or rather they learn through a technique called "problem based learning", where the students are given different scenarios - dummy patients with various illnesses.

Professor Jayasinghe said that although these students have previously not studied anything related to medical science, through this method of learning they catch up very fast and in fact by final year, when they are integrated to the general graduate degree course, the non science graduates actually fair better than the science graduates.

But in Sri Lankan universities there is little variety of courses and little or no carrier guidance is provided. He also pointed out that Sri Lankan education system is badly in need of reform and that training in Information Technology, Communication skills, ethics and Professional Development is imperative. He suggested that this could be done through engaging students in sports, fine arts, historical studies, etc...

He also suggested that elite sciences such as nursing should also be given prominence within the education system. At first the Open University conducted a degree programme for nursing and then the University of Jayawardhenapura commenced a degree course to which only 30 students are admitted every year.

The professor also suggested affiliating nursing schools with the medical faculties. The alternatives should also be broadened to include other areas such as Physiotherapy, Psychology, Midwife training, etc... Although some of these choices already exist in the system there are very few opportunities and most of these have little or no connections with the medical faculties.

Professor Jayasinghe said that if Sri Lanka sent abroad trained labour instead of untrained labour as we have done for years, they have a better chance of bringing more foreign exchange in to the country.

In Sri Lanka the student teacher relationship is not very intimate and student counselling is still at a very primitive stage. Teachers should be specially trained and monitored to ensure the quality of teaching. Teachers should be encouraged to take up research work, which rarely happens in Sri Lanka. This type of reform could definitely benefit the Sri Lanka education system, explained Professor Jayasinghe.

Because education in developed countries is student centred, the feed back of the students are gathered by annual essays. They comment on what was done over the year, whether it was satisfactory, what the drawbacks were and advisable remedies.

The examiners check the essays and marks are added. The examiners also immediately detect if the students are in any sort of difficulty and recommend counselling if necessary.

He also said that no education system should become an industry. But in a sense some people will always prefer foreign degrees.

He suggested that the government should pass legislation to prevent, or at least stall brain drain by enforcing a sine qua non service period in Sri Lanka for all employees. A conservative society as that of Sri Lanka, will always instinctively resist change, new technologies, not to mention modernisation.

But he also admitted that no foreign policies or reforms could be integrated in to the national system in its' entirety. But there are important lessons to be learnt. We would have to adjust to the changing times; without putting our individuality on the line, like the Japanese have done for decades.

He said that decisions concerning education should be devoid of political interventions. He also pointed out that any Sri Lankan government enforces things from top down.

If information is misinterpreted it will only lead to gross misunderstandings. Major decisions have to be made with the concurrence of all parties concerned, such as student unions.

Although we boast of a high literacy rate, this alone is not enough. The education the Sri Lankan students receive should be of high quality, that would enable them to compete with the rest of the world or we would be left behind in a ever changing world.

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