Reforming the Education System- The Journey Towards the Envisioned Future
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Education is a universal need. Every parent; regardless if its a convicted felon or a respected social influencer wishes to give the best possible source of knowledge for their beloved children. That is why it is the role of the Education Ministry to enforce stringent policies in order to create the suitable background within the country to fulfill that need.
An insightful interview with Prof. Kapila Perera
The consistency of policy execution has been a cause of debate for the past few years. Questions were raised regarding the future of these children. A new dawn has arrived along with the new regime. A fresh vision has given a new outlook for the future of the education structure of the entire country. Secretary- Ministry of Education Prof. Kapila Perera zealously revealed the new Cabinet Minister Dullas Allahaperuma and Minister of Education G.L.Pieris’s vision towards the future of the children and the youth.
‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’ powers the next few years
The current regime’s manifesto of ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’ has created a golden opportunity to develop education. The manifesto envisages that the entire stages of education; ranging from preschool, early childhood, general, university education to vocational training and piriven education should be synonymous with education and be treated with equal importance by classifying such different stages under one basket and governed under a single Ministry. This coincides with the vision of the Presidential Task Force for education.
Identifying and correcting the flawed system
The President His Excellency and the Minister of Education understands that there is a flaw within the system. This flaw persists throughout all the stages of a child’s life as a student. That is the fact that the education system is strictly limited to education. A student can pass all the examinations that have to be faced, but at the end of the day does this guarantee that the student is well versed in language proficiency?
Book knowledge will give a person the intellect regarding all the facts of the world, but it does not eliminate the phobia which exist towards speaking English.That is because the school system treats English as a lesson rather than a skill that needs to be developed. Therefore, it is restricted to a period that a teacher should teach once per day. The examination results will reflect an A pass, but the articulation of the language learned remains questionable.
This significantly effects the children during their university life. It is observed that a certain hierarchy or a form of sects are formed amongst undergraduates. The students are divided as the fluent and non-fluent. This causes social problems and develop an inferiority complex.
Another flaw that was identified is the lack of career guidance. The school system is geared towards churning out 9As and 3As for the GCE OL and ALs respectively. Thereafter, the university admission grants entry to approximately 30,000 students who have shown significant promise. Those who failed to gain admission are labelled as ‘dropouts’. These individuals either have to pursue private education, or enlist in vocational training.
Reinventing the concept of ‘vocational training’
A link to the vocational sector is currently non-existent within the general education system. Furthermore, there is no formal means of offering a career directive/guidance to a student after the AL examination. This forces students to seek employment through the limited knowledge and skills that they already have.
The honorable Minister feels that it is time to rename the term ‘vocational training’. Prof. Kapila feels that there is a certain level of stigma associated with certain professions. Therefore, the word ‘vocational training’ needs to be altered to give a more socially accepted and respectable meaning.
The perception regarding the importance of these skill sets need to be changed. Hands-on expertise should be provided in-order to develop these skill sets. Relevant recognitions need to be given once a person master certain skills so as to give incentives to actively participate in the training.
The Minister hopes to ensure a curriculum reformation. The reports of the Presidential Task Force for education, National Education Commission and the National Institute of Education will ease the process of introducing these reformations. The Minister expects to establish the much needed link between general education, higher education and the skills sector. This includes offering career guidance.
The birth of an ‘ambitious’Programmeme
An ambitious Programme to improve language fluency has been envisioned by the honorable Minister. This Programme is expected to equip the child with the power of the English language starting from Grade 1 itself.
Addressing the ‘National School’ debate
Parents desire to enter their child into a “National School”. There is a general consensus that the ‘national school’ tagline automatically makes a school desirable and is superior in the quality of the delivery of education. The validity of this consensus will be evaluated. A benchmark will be established by analyzing the progress achieved by the ‘national schools’ and determine a standard which earns a school the ‘national school’ title.
Schools will be selected out of 123 Divisional Secretariates. These schools will be scrutinized and evaluated to see if they are worthy to wield the ‘national school’ tile. These schools will be brought upto a certain standard. This is done with the hope of giving the less popular schools an opportunity to prove that they are on similar grounds as the ones that are given most preference.
Wield the power of IT precisely responsibly
The other need that caught the attention of the Minister is the need to improve IT literacy. Parents entrust their child with technology even at a younger age. The parent’s literacy on the use of these technologies directly affect the manner in which the child puts the device to use. The goal is to empower every individual with the power of IT and English. Through that, the parents can protect their child from the adverse effects that are associated with the use of technology.
Achieving the perfect blend of mind and physique
The Minister also realised that the education process should be well balance in order to maintain a balanced mindset. To achieve success through education, a person should be healthy. To remain healthy, that particular person should ideally engage in sports and regular exercises. The vision is to negotiate with the other two ministries; Sports and Health Ministries, and form a collaborated effort. Discussions are carried out with the Minister of Sports Honorable Namal Rajapaksa to empower and facilitate human physical training of coaches.
A data-driven structure for career progression
The Minister further expects to establish a data driven transparent system. The Ministry is currently in the process of setting up a sophisticated database for each and every student. This endeavor is currently 67% complete. A data file will be created to each person upon birth. That file will be maintained throughout his/her life. The student data and progress that the student achieves throughout the years will be entered in the database.
Opportunities created through ATIs
There are 11 ATIs established throughout the island. These ATIs conduct Higher National Diploma Programmes in Engineering, IT, Agriculture, Food, Technology, Building Services, Quantity Surveying, English, Non Technical and Technical fields. A significant human resource base is honed through these institutes. The Ministry expects to give opportunities to top-up their degree Programmes whenever required.
The ideal mix of intellect to make the needed difference
The focus of the Ministry of Education is to live up to the people’s mandate. A resourceful pool of individuals have been selected to make the much needed change within the education system. The commitment of the Minister and the State Ministers is certain to ease the journey. A new dawn has arrived along with a fresh beginning, and the public can rest assured that the questions that have been a nagging concern shall be addressed accordingly.
- Randheer Mallawaarachchi