Education: Going beyond six percent 2015-10-19 he government has announced a four-fold increase for education under the budget in 201! "he allocations for education #ould go up to $s! 1%5!9 billion from the $s! &'!billion allocated in the 2015 (udget! "hat is obviously a lot of money ! )n the *rst place+ it is a salutary decision+ a long a#aited one+ indeed+ on the part of the Government! ,o#ever+ this money could #ell be suandered+ if it failed to identify the real problems that beset our education system! " o begin #ith+ measured on basic indicato rs such as near universal primary school enrollment+ and high literary rate etc. our education sector has performed reasonably #ell+ even despite the limited funding in the past! (ut+ in recent times+ #e have failed to maintain our ualitative edge vis a vis some of the peer emerging economies! ,o#ever+ a close loo/ #ould suggest it is much more than the relatively limited budgetary allocations or our relative economic standards that #ere the cause of the problem! or instance+ internation al assessment tests such as )3 reveal /ids in 4ietnam scor e higher mar/s than the E67 average+
2015-10-19he government has announced afour-fold increase for education
under the budget in 201! "heallocations for education #ould goup to $s! 1%5!9 billion from the $s!&'! billion allocated in the 2015
(udget! "hat is obviously a lot of money! )nthe *rst place+ it is a salutary decision+ a long a#aited one+ indeed+ on thepart of the Government! ,o#ever+ this money could #ell be suandered+ ifit failed to identify the real problems that beset our education system!
"o begin #ith+ measured on basic indicators such asnear universal primary school enrollment+ and high literary rate etc. oureducation sector has performed reasonably #ell+ even despite the limitedfunding in the past! (ut+ in recent times+ #e have failed to maintain ourualitative edge vis a vis some of the peer emerging economies!
,o#ever+ a close loo/ #ould suggest it is much more than the relativelylimited budgetary allocations or our relative economic standards that #erethe cause of the problem! or instance+ international assessment tests suchas )3 reveal /ids in 4ietnam score higher mar/s than the E67 average+
and #ell above their peers in richer 8+ rance+ 83 etc! hereas+ studentsin relatively rich ;alaysia are lagging far behind!
hat matters most is #hat is taught to our children -- and ho# it is taught!)n our policy circles+ there is hardly a consensus as to #hat s/ills our /ids
need to excel in the globali<ed #orld! ,o#ever+ that consensus has longbeen reached in most emerging and advanced economies!
ri =an/a should follo# suit and prioriti<e its education on several /eyareas: cience+ ;athematics+ )" and in our case+ English. those /ey areas ofcurriculum could be laced #ith a liberal studies education!
"hough there are piecemeal changes in the school curriculum+ ri =an/anpolicy ma/ers have failed to revamp the school curriculum and the teaching
strategies to catch up #ith the revolution in education that is ta/ing placein many parts of the #orld! )nstead+ our political bosses have sho#n anunholy interest in 7aham asal education and to ban tuition classes onundays #hile the /ey priority areas of modern education are rotting!
ur schools are lac/ing uali*ed teachers to teach cience+ ;athematics+English and )nformation "echnology! or a country #hich is faced #ith arecurrent crisis in graduate unemployment+ the inability to *ll in thosevacancies #ith uali*ed graduates is thought provo/ing! )n most cases+ it is
yet another indication of the mismatch bet#een the graduate uali*cationsin particular >and education in general? and the @ob mar/et! "hat again is aclassic example of the repercussions #hen the priorities are s/e#ed forconvenience+ or #orse still+ due to the sheer absence of a broader vision!
hat matters most is #hat is taught to our children -- and ho# itis taught!
,o#ever+ even to try to *x this mess+ the Government has to start hiring
uali*ed individuals to *ll the vacancies+ and train them! or a country#hich has a #ell established education infrastructure and a history of freeeducation+ that is not a ma@or challenge+ as long as the ne#ly monetarily-rich education ministry embar/s on a pro-active hiring and training of itsstaA! )t can encourage science and mathematics >especially female?graduates in universities >since ri =an/an females prefer teaching overother forms of employment? to ta/e up teaching appointments #ith theoAers of salaries and other bene*ts commensurate to their uali*cations!
"he ;inistry can also send scouts to international schools to #oo studentsto choose English teaching as a career! "hose are /ey areas #here theappropriate talent pool for hiring in the education sector is concentrated!
3gain+ the problem in our education system cannot be con*ned to the
dearth of teachers or the resources! )t is more systemic and deeply rootedin the Ba#ed policy of compulsory #abasha education!
ri =an/a cannot compete #ith its international peers by relying on#abasha education! 6!!!annangaraCs proposal in 19&5 that #asapproved by the then tate 6ouncil to teach students in the vernacularlanguage -- on the lopsided premise that a child #as better disposed toabsorb teaching in his vernacular -- has proved to be a disaster on the longrun! )t has eroded the promise of free education and created a large semi-s/illed #or/force!
)ts spiral eAects have no# been reBected in the erosion of English standardsamong teachers and students+ ma/ing it hard to recruit uali*ed Englishteachers!
(uilding human resources in English is a long haul process -- since #edismantled an important part of our heritage at a moment of fren<y in the1950s!Do# #e have to rebuild it+ and to do it the hard #ay+ starting+ pretty much+from scratch! )f the public education is to remain competitive+ theGovernment should reintroduce English medium education! )n fact+resident 6handri/a umaratunga made the *rst salutary move in thatdirection even #hile her administration #as cash-strapped and #as *ghtinga ruthless terrorist insurgency! ,er Government launched a pilot pro@ect inselected schools to teach in the English medium! ,o#ever+ her successorsfailed to sustain the momentum! "hat #as unfortunate for #ith the rightGovernment bac/ing+ the pro@ect could have expanded its reach andrede*ned the idea of free education! )t could by no# have created a pool ofEnglish-educated youth #ho could have gone to ta/e up teachingappointments in schools! uch pro@ects have an eAect of multiplying
bene*ts! 3s students pass out from schools every year+ they @oin the talentpool and go to share their /no#ledge+ some opting to serve as teachers!
"hat #as ho# an impressive net#or/ of English medium schools #as builtand staAed during the *rst half of the 20th century in ri =an/a!
hile ;s! umaratungaCs successors faulted+ their very failure resulted inthe mushrooming of privately-o#ned international schools! "hough vili*edby the advocates of free education+ international schools are a force of good
-- and a driver of moderni<ation! 3t minimum+ they oAer parents a choice asto #hich language in #hich they #ant to educate their children! "hey havealso helped creating a pool of English educated youth+ #ho can serve asteachers! "hey are perhaps the last remaining bastion of English languagepro*ciency in ri =an/a! hile their s/ills may need to be honed+ it is easierto do so+ than starting from the scratch!
,o#ever+ the problem in our system is that it discriminates againststudents from international schools in admission to local universities andteaching colleges! "he ostensible reasoning is to protect free education!,o#ever+ in fact+ such decisions+ that stem from the Ba#ed ideologicalpremise on the state monopoly in education+ is actually rooted in insulatingan archaic public education system from competition-- #hich #ould easilyexpose its vulnerabilities!
"he Government should integrate private schools into the education systemin a coherent fashion and try to tap into their expertise and s/ills to improvenational education at large! )f the local universities choose to admituali*ed students from international schools based on their academicperformance+ that #ould+ in the short run+ address the shortage of studentsin English medium classes in local universities >especially in arts andhumanities? and in the long run provide academics #ith adeuate Englishlanguage pro*ciency! ocial sciences and humanities education in localuniversities have become a near farce for the dearth of uali*ed academicsand their limited pro*ciency in the language of trade+ commerce andintellectual discourse. in our part of the #orld+ it is English!
)t is alright to be proud of oneCs native language+ but the private sectorrecruiters #ould tell you university degrees+ especially in social science+ la#and humanities #ere not #orth the paper they #ere #ritten on+ if its holderlac/s a decent level of English pro*ciency!
"he best #ay to properly spend the extra cash that has been allocated forthe ;inistry of Education is to embar/ on a plan to reintroduce island#ideEnglish medium education in government schools and bring at least *fty
percent of secondary schools under this category #ithin a reasonable timeframe!
3nd+ second+ the Government has to prioriti<e teaching in cience+;athematics and )". to that end+ our educationists do not need to reinventthe #heel! "here are countries such as ingapore+ "ai#an+ outh orea oreven 6hina+ #hose models can be emulated or improvised to suit ourcircumstances!
(ut+ #hen doing that #e #ill reali<e one thing: building physicalinfrastructure+ be it class rooms+ language centres or labs+ are easier thancreating human resources to manage them and propagate /no#ledge!8nfortunately #e had those resources+ #ay bac/ in the 50s and 0s+ and#ere suandered by a Ba#ed populist education policy!
inally+ our education system fails t#o speci*c categories of students! irstis the top 10 of children+ #ho are the brightest of their cohort! "hey arethe potential innovators and inventors. they primarily choose cience and;athematics streams for their 3dvanced levels and those #ho enteruniversities are exceptionally bright! Even those #ho could not ma/e it+#ould do #ell any#here if given an opportunity!
,o#ever+ our universities+ especially their science and technologydepartments #hich receive the brightest of our youth operate #ithminimum lin/age to technology and industrial clusters! "herefore+ our
potential innovators and inventors have their blueprints gathering dust! "hecountry does a great harm to those promising children+ by not nurturingthem+ and failing to harness their talents! )t is also a self-inBicted harm onthe nation since those talented youth could #ell be the torchbearers of ouradvancement even as a niche producer of selected technology! hy #edonCt have technology clusters is+ in addition to the absence of Governmentsupport+ #e donCt have a science and technology culture+ nurtured fromschooldays! hereas countries li/e 4ietnam have cottage industries ofclone smart phones! "hose are signs of countries pic/ing up on thetechnology curve! n the contrary+ #e are no#here!
)f the brightest and brainiest of our /ids are coached+ nurtured and givenextra attention+ they #ould one day give bac/ to the nation! "a/e forexample )ndiaCs )" sector and technology start ups! bviously+ )ndiaCseducation system+ at large+ is a rot+ but it has islands of excellence and hasconsistently mentored its brightest! "hey and )ndians of 3merican originno# o#n or manage one in four every start up opened in ilicon 4alley!(angalore is becoming the startup capital in )ndia!
econd+ our system fails the bottom -- F0-&0 of students+ #ho drop out
after the =s and even much before! "hey leave school #ith limitedemployable s/ills! "hat is partly #hy #e have to export our uns/illed labourto the ;iddle East! (ut+ that is a sad indictment of our free education+ #hichcontrary to its promise+ has failed to create opportunities for a large s#atheof the least advantaged /ids! "hey need extra attention+ coaching andguidance and opportunities to pursue training and education in appropriateventures! "hat reuires the expansion of vocational training opportunities
"here is one positive attribute: education is a #heel+ #hich #hen /ic/ed intoaction ta/es a life of its o#n+ and continues to multiply /no#ledge!,o#ever+ #hat happened in the past #as that #e reversed the momentumof that #heel+ through one short-sighted policy! )f the ne# administrationcould rectify that+ the #heel #ould go on churning out an enormousgoodness and promise+ for the decades to come+ at a scale that #ould even
surprise most of us!
Follow Ranga Jayasuriya @RangaJayasuriya on Twitter.
