CB says Sri Lanka needs integrated policy reforms at all education levels
The Central Bank has made a series of recommendations to improve the country’s education system. Sri Lanka must now refocus the country’s education policies to align with economic development goals, to become globally competitive and therefore escape the middle income trap, the latest Central Bank report said.
“In this regard, emphasis of the education system should be on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields as well as improving English literacy, which are crucial in building linkages with global markets. Hence, Sri Lanka needs integrated policy reforms at all levels of education in order to build a STEM literate workforce,” the report said. At the general education level, education policies should focus on improving the relevance of curricula for economic development goals and quality of education delivery, the report said.
Meanwhile, the range of education streams at the A/L stage should be widened in all schools while allocating resources and trained staff equitably across schools for STEM subjects and English.
Resource and teacher cadre requirements and shortages at school level should be monitored trough a central database system. Further, the allocation of recourses and teacher deployment should be made a needs a basis through a central mechanism.
An incentive scheme needs to be introduced for teachers in STEM fields to work in underprivileged schools. Since the state sector alone cannot meet the skill demand in the economy, private sector engagement in tertiary education, supported by strong quality assurance and accreditation mechanisms, is vital to raise higher education and TVET enrolment rates.
Further concessionary education loans should be promoted to encourage students who are unable to enrol in state universities, to pursue higher education opportunities through non-state higher education institutions. Resource sharing among several training institutions, particularly through public private partnerships, would be more effective in reducing per student training costs.
Addressing the issues in the education system which extend the time period of university courses will encourage students, who choose not to pursue higher education because of the delay in entering the job market, to enrol in tertiary education programmes.
A swift transition from school to employment ensures that fresh entrants to the labour market are young at the beginning of their employment period. Reduction in administrative inefficiencies in releasing examination results and student enrolments, prevention of disruptions to the university system caused by student and staff union action and a possible reduction in the number of years of study, can significantly reduce the average age of Sri Lankan graduates.