US$ 100m WB loan to Strengthen, Modernise Education system
View(s):Sri Lanka signed a US$ 100 million (Rs 15.9 billion) credit agreement with the World Bank, to support Sri Lanka’s efforts to strengthen and modernize its Education system. The General Education Modernisation (GEM) Project, approved today, will update and improve the curriculum of General Education, while keeping up with the current transformation taking place within Sri Lanka’s Society and Economy.
“GEM will support the government to modernise the Primary and Secondary Education systems, in line with international standards established in middle-income and high-income Education systems,” said Lead Economist and WB’s Project Task Team Leader Harsha Aturupane. The project will also benefit Technical Education and Vocational Training Institutes, and academic and managerial staff of schools.
The project will place greater emphasis on strategic subjects such as English and Mathematics. Learning material for English Language and Mathematics will be developed digitally and focus on rural schoolchildren. It will also broaden the choices at the GCE A/L, so that, students have the flexibility to select subjects from among the Arts, Management, Science, Technology and Vocational streams.
“Successful implementation of the overall GEM programme and the key priorities supported by GEM, should lead to improved learning outcomes and higher socio-emotional skills among students” he added. The WB has been a longstanding partner of Sri Lanka in the Education sector. The Transforming School Education System Project (TSEP), has helped the country increase the survival rate of students from Grades 1–11 (ages 6–16) to over 87%; introduced a regular cycle of national assessments of learning outcomes, and started School Based Management (SBM) to support the administration of schools in all zones. In addition, TSEP helped in strengthening the capacity of the decentralized tiers of education administration.
“Sri Lanka has made impressive progress in expanding access to Education. However, to reach the status of an Upper Middle-Income Country, it needs to further improve the overall learning outcomes. Sri Lanka’s Education policymakers recognise that, a high-quality General Education system will enable students to meet the demands of 21st century jobs,” said WB Country Director for Sri Lanka & Maldives, Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough. “We are happy to partner with the government to ensure that all children have the opportunity to gain foundational skills, especially in Mathematics and English, needed to participate in Sri Lanka’s economic growth,” she added.