Sri Lanka Education Sector Assessment: Achievements, Challenges, and Policy Options

Abstract

The book draws on background papers prepared by Reehana Raza (skills development) and Dhushyanth Raju and Ritika Dsouza (private tutoring as well as public school teacher management in Sri Lanka). The peer reviewers for the report were Cem Mete and Juan Manuel Moreno. The team also benefited from advice, inputs, and comments from a number of individuals at critical points in the report's preparation, notably Chitral Amarasiri, Roshini Ebenezer, David Locke Newhouse, Yevgeniya Savchenko, Shalika Subasinghe, and Hassan Zaman. Many individuals from the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education and Highways, and the Ministry of Skills Development and Vocational Training participated in and provided extremely useful insights at consultations and dissemination events. None of the people mentioned above bear any responsibility for the analyses and findings of this report. The authors alone assume full responsibility for its conclusions.

Sri Lanka Human Capital Development

“…Still other interventions use a two-tiered approach, targeting both parents and children. Some of these programs use community-based approaches, while others such as the Turkish Early Enrichment Project mix home-and center-based programs for optimal impact (Dundar et al 2017). Some are intensive, small-scale, and targeted at high-risk children, such as the High Scope Perry Preschool Project in the United States, while others such as Head Start, also in the United States, are large-scale programs that provide both center-and home-based interventions (Dundar et al 2017).…”

“…Some of these programs use community-based approaches, while others such as the Turkish Early Enrichment Project mix home-and center-based programs for optimal impact (Dundar et al 2017). Some are intensive, small-scale, and targeted at high-risk children, such as the High Scope Perry Preschool Project in the United States, while others such as Head Start, also in the United States, are large-scale programs that provide both center-and home-based interventions (Dundar et al 2017). Regardless of which approach is used, research suggests that the quality of these interventions and targeting of parents/caregivers as early as possible in the parenting process are important dimensions of effective programming (Shuey and Kankaras 2018; World Bank 2018a).…”

“…Moreover, the system for teacher deployment is a particular challenge for the country. Although the 2017 school census suggests that government schools in Sri Lanka have an adequate number of teachers, many schools do not have the right mix of teachers (Dundar et al 2017). Rural and plantation schools, in particular, find it challenging to attract and retain teachers in key subject areas such as English, mathematics, and science .…”

“…It may also require some innovative thinking to fill teacher shortages in certain subjects. For example, in Sri Lanka, where there is a significant shortage of English teachers, teachers may have to be recruited from overseas to fill vacancies (Dundar et al 2017). Ultimately, Sri Lanka will have to explore innovative options to ensure that children in rural/urban and plantation sector schools have equal access to high-quality teachers.…”

“…Moreover, although there is a system in place for recruitment of teachers, the rules guiding this process have been relaxed at various points in time, either to address the need in disadvantaged areas or for political expediency. In some cases, this has affected the quality of teachers, or lead to over-recruitment in certain subjects and underrecruitment in others (for example, science, math, English, and computer literacy) Balasooriya 2012; Pillay et al 2015;Dundar et al 2017). The country also faces a shortage of English, mathematics, and science GCE A/L 13 teachers, which is partly due to low teacher salaries.…”