Midweek Review

What is the problem in Sri Lanka’s school education system?

Published

9 months ago

2025/08/6

Despite Sri Lanka’s longstanding commitment to free education and its commendable literacy rates, the country’s school education system remains deeply burdened by structural inequities and regional disparities. The recent policy proposal by the Ministry of Education, to replace the traditional examination-based model with a modular system of evaluation, at least for grade 5 exam, claims to promote continuous learning, interdisciplinary flexibility,

and reduced academic pressur. Yet, this reform fails to confront the more entrenched and complex challenges that have long undermined educational equity across the country. To borrow from a Sinhala idiom, the shift is like trading ginger for chili: a seemingly flavorful alternative that, in practice, introduces new discomforts without alleviating the old. While modular evaluation involves assessing students at the conclusion ofeach discrete unit through assignments, tests, or practicals, aligned with global trends in credit-based education, its uncritical adoption reveals a narrow understanding of Sri Lanka’s educational terrain.

The deeper issue lies in the system’s stark inequalities between urban, rural, and estate sector schools. Urban institutions, particularly those concentrated in the Western Province, enjoy relatively advanced infrastructure, qualified teachers, and digital connectivity. In contrast, rural and estate schools often operate with skeletal resources and minimal access to technology, reinforcing a cycle of disadvantage. Data from the 2023 GCE Ordinary Level (O/L) exam illustrate this divide: over 65% of students in Colombo qualified for Advanced Level (A/L) studies, while qualification rates in districts like Monaragala and Mullaitivu hovered below 40%. Estate schools, many of which serve fewer than 100 students, face even more severe challenges. (See Table 1)

These numbers are drawn from the Department of Examinations’ official performance tables, with cross-verification from Gazette.lk’s statistical summary and TamilGuru.lk’s district-level analysis.

Why these numbers matter

Colombo’s 65.2% reflects a concentration of national and semi-national schools with better infrastructure and teacher availability. Monaragala and Mullaitivu, despite improvements, still lag due to resource constraints and lower school density. The figure for Nuwara Eliya is particularly affected by estate sector schools, where dropout rates and language barriers remain significant.

Compounding the issue is the digital divide showing that internet access at home exceeds 60% in urban areas but plummets to 20.2% in rural regions and below 5% in the estate sector. Computer ownership mirrors this pattern, with urban rates at 34%, rural at 18.1%, and estate sector at a mere 4.6%. Teacher-to-student ratios are similarly skewed, though the national average is around 17:1, urban schools report ratios near 22:1, while rural and estate schools exceed 35:1, particularly in critical subjects like English, ICT, and Science.Over 40% of rural schools lack qualified teachers in these subjects, and many teachers remainuntrained in both the new curricula and basic digital tools. (See Table 2)

While modular evaluation may be appropriate for tertiary institutions using outcome-based models like the Sri Lankan Credit and Qualifications Framework (SLCQF), its translation into the school system is fraught with risks. It is particularly susceptible to amplifying existing inequalities. In affluent urban schools, modular assessments often shift academic responsibility onto parents, many of whom are better equipped, socially, financially, and educationally, to assist with complex assignments. Such dynamics could spawn a burgeoning parallel market of paid academic support, further advantaging those already privileged and undermining the system’s integrity.

Structural Inequities and Sociocultural Disparities in Educational Opportunity

A central driver of educational inequality in Sri Lanka is the pronounced divide in access and opportunity between urban and rural regions. National schools located in urban centers are typically better funded and resourced, attracting a disproportionate number of qualified teachers and offering enriched learning environments. In contrast, provincial schools, especially those situated in rural and estate sectors grapple with chronic teacher shortages, dilapidated infrastructure, and limited access to basic learning tools such as libraries, laboratories, and digital technologies. This disparity translates into marked differences in educational quality and outcomes, significantly constraining the academic progression and life prospects of students from underprivileged communities.

Socioeconomic hardship further entrenches these challenges. Poverty compels many children from low-income families to discontinue their education prematurely, either because their labor is needed to support household survival or due to the unaffordability of seemingly minor but essential school-related expenses, such as uniforms, stationery, or transportation. Additionally, private tutoring, a widely adopted practice in Sri Lanka to reinforce classroom instruction and boost examination performance, remains inaccessible to many marginalized students, thus widening the achievement gap.

While Sri Lanka boasts high levels of female literacy, nuanced gender disparities persist. Research suggests that girls often outperform boys in school examinations and university enrolment, and in some cases, families invest more heavily in their daughters’ education (Himaz & Aturupane, 2021). Yet, this apparent advantage does not always translate into equitable outcomes in the labour market. Women continue to face structural barriers shaped by entrenched cultural expectations and biases, limiting their post-educational opportunities and upward mobility.

Ethnic disparities compound the picture of educational exclusion. Minority groups, particularly Tamils, have historically encountered systemic discrimination in access to quality schooling and representation within state institutions. Past language policies, which resulted in the segregation of schools along linguistic lines, have deepened interethnic divides and limited avenues for inclusive learning and social cohesion. These legacies continue to influence both the structure and lived experience of education in Sri Lanka, demanding reforms that extend beyond technical curriculum adjustments to address long-standing social and cultural inequities.

Institutional Stratification and Reform Challenges in Sri Lanka’s School System

Compounding the geographical and socioeconomic disparities in Sri Lanka’s education landscape are the systemic structures embedded within the schooling apparatus itself. The division of schools into national and provincial categories with significant variation in funding, staffing, and resource allocation has led to an entrenched stratification of educational quality. National schools, often located in urban centers, benefit from centralized investment, superior infrastructure, and greater administrative autonomy. Meanwhile, provincial schools, particularly those in underserved rural and estate regions, struggle to meet even the most basic standards, deepening the gulf in learning outcomes and institutional capacity.

This structural imbalance is further amplified by the highly competitive nature of the system, most notably through the Grade 5 scholarship examination. Intended as a meritocratic mechanism to identify and support academically promising students, the exam in practice exerts severe psychological and financial pressure on children and their families. Those with access to private tutoring and other forms of educational support are disproportionately favoured, while students from lower-income households face significant barriers to success. The examination culture thus reinforces privilege rather than disrupting it, exacerbating the already unequal terrain.

The contradiction between widespread qualification rates and limited higher education access is another fault line. Although a considerable proportion of students meet the criteria for university entrance, only a small fraction secures placements in state universities exposing the yawning gap between aspiration and opportunity. The bottleneck reflects both limited institutional capacity and inadequate investment in expanding higher education infrastructure. As a result, students, especially from peripheral regions, are often funnelled into vocational tracks or left without viable post-secondary options.

These limitations are compounded by a misalignment between educational content and labour market demands. Many schools, particularly outside major urban centres, lack the facilities and pedagogical frameworks necessary to cultivate practical, market-relevant skills. The emphasis on rote learning and theoretical knowledge, divorced from experiential engagement, leaves graduates ill-prepared for the evolving demands of the contemporary economy.

To its credit, Sri Lanka has launched reform efforts aimed at ameliorating these disparities. Initiatives such as school clustering, designed to foster resource-sharing among neighbouring institutions, and digitalization programs to expand access to learning technologies signal a recognition of systemic shortcomings. Targeted interventions for disadvantaged students have also emerged, seeking to redress inequities through focused policy design.

Yet these reforms face substantial implementation barriers. Resistance from entrenched institutional actors, uneven resource distribution, and the enduring grip of socioeconomic and cultural hierarchies all threaten to undermine transformative potential. Achieving genuine equity requires not merely technical adjustments, but a fundamental reimagining of how education is conceived, delivered, and valued across Sri Lanka’s diverse regions. It demands a sustained commitment to dismantling inherited structures of exclusion and fostering inclusive environments where every child, regardless of location or social background, can thrive, academically, socially, and professionally.

Unequal Resource Distribution and the Digital Divide

A cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s educational inequity lies in the uneven distribution of qualified teachers, a disparity that mirrors broader structural imbalances across the system. Urban schools, bolstered by better living conditions, professional networks, and career growth opportunities, tend to attract more experienced and subject-specialised educators. In contrast, rural and estate schools frequently operate with skeletal teaching staff, many of whom lack formal training in essential subjects such as English, Science, and ICT. This inequitable allocation of human resources directly impairs the depth and rigor of instruction available to students outside urban centers, limiting their academic preparedness and narrowing their future options.

Beyond personnel, the infrastructural divide is equally stark. Urban schools typically benefit from modern classrooms, well-stocked libraries, functional laboratories, and reliable access to digital technology, all of which foster dynamic and engaging learning environments. Meanwhile, many rural schools lack basic amenities, including dependable electricity, sufficient classroom space, and updated learning materials. These deficits obstruct the adoption of contemporary teaching methodologies and restrict hands-on experiences crucial to conceptual understanding. For instance, the absence of functioning science labs in rural settings means students must rely solely on abstract instruction, whereas their urban counterparts can engage directly with experimental learning, reinforcing not only conceptual clarity but also critical thinking.

The digital divide further exacerbates these disparities. Urban students often enjoy access to personal computers, stable internet connections, and digital learning platforms, enabling them to cultivate digital literacy and explore vast educational resources. Rural students, however, contend with limited device availability, erratic internet infrastructure, and low levels of digital proficiency. This technological asymmetry became glaringly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, when remote learning became the norm. Students in rural areas, already marginalized, faced acute barriers to participation, deepening educational exclusion.

These compounding disadvantages manifest in predictable educational outcomes. Urban students consistently outperform their rural peers in national examinations and university admission rates, not necessarily due to greater individual aptitude, but because of systemic advantages that shape the conditions of learning. Such outcomes contribute to intergenerational cycles of inequality, stifling social mobility and reinforcing regional poverty traps.

Policy interventions like the National Education Policy Framework (NEPF) 2023–2033 and the school clustering initiative offer tentative steps toward redressing these inequities. By encouraging resource-sharing, streamlining administrative coordination, and enhancing infrastructure, they aim to promote greater parity across schools. Yet, as with previous reform attempts, the promise of equity hinges not only on policy design but on the will and capacity to implement these measures effectively. Without sustained investment and accountability, disparities will persist, subtly reshaped but fundamentally unchanged.

Literacy, Language, and Access: Deepening the Rural-Urban Educational Divide

While Sri Lanka proudly boasts a national literacy rate of 95.7%, a disaggregated view reveals persistent disparities that challenge the narrative of educational inclusivity. The estate sector, predominantly rural and socioeconomically marginalised, records the lowest literacy rate at 80.9%, with particularly stark gaps among women. This data reflects more than a numeric deficiency: it signifies constrained access to basic information, diminished employment prospects, and limited civic participation for a substantial segment of the population.

The digital literacy divide compounds this educational exclusion. Urban areas report a 49% computer literacy rate, while rural regions lag behind at 32.3% and estate areas at a mere 13.9%. These figures suggest that a considerable portion of Sri Lanka’s youth, especially outside urban centers, lack the foundational skills required to engage with the digital economy or benefit from online services and learning platforms.

Inadequate infrastructure plays a central role: as of 2017, only 21% of rural households had access to a desktop or laptop computer, compared to nearly 40% in urban areas. Such disparities hinder not only individual learning but also the national goal of fostering a digitally fluent workforce.

English proficiency, a key determinant of educational and economic mobility in Sri Lanka, exhibits similarly entrenched divides. With only 22% of the population literate in English, rural students are systematically disadvantaged in accessing higher education and private-sector employment. Assessments from the National Educational Research Centre (2015–2016) revealed sharp performance gaps: Grade 4 students in urban schools scored an average of 61% in English, compared to 49% in rural schools. By Grade 8, the divide deepens further—urban scores averaged 45%, while rural counterparts managed only 33%. These figures underscore how early language inequality translates into long-term barriers.

Access to tertiary education magnifies these divides. Tracer studies show that 66% of university students originate from metropolitan and urban backgrounds, while only 34% come from rural areas, despite rural students comprising roughly 70% of the national schooling population. This imbalance highlights the systemic barriers to upward mobility, particularly for students from disadvantaged regions. The bottleneck is partially driven by capacity constraints: Sri Lanka’s 15 state universities accommodate only around 30,000 entrants annually, out of the approximately 350,000 candidates who sit for the A-Level examination each year.

Poverty remains a foundational contributor to these disparities. Only 20% of students from low-income families complete secondary education, compared to 70% from more affluent households. In rural areas,

this divide is accentuated by the economic necessity of child labour and household responsibilities, which inhibit sustained educational engagement, even in a system that formally offers free tuition.

Collectively, these data points reveal a troubling portrait of uneven educational access, in which geography, income, gender, and ethnicity intersect to shape opportunity. Bridging these divides will require more than episodic reforms; it demands a comprehensive, equity-oriented strategy.

Simply introducing patchwork measures, such as altering the evaluation system, cannot resolve the entrenched and multifaceted inequities that shape educational access and outcomes in Sri Lanka. While such reforms may offer incremental improvements, they often fail to address the underlying structural barriers that perpetuate disadvantage. Without a holistic approach that acknowledges the complex realities faced by marginalised communities, reforms risk becoming cosmetic, leaving the foundational architecture of inequality intact.

Investments in infrastructure, teacher training, curriculum relevance, and digital inclusion must be paired with culturally responsive policies that recognise the unique challenges faced by rural communities. By empowering students across Sri Lanka’s social and geographic spectrum, the nation can transform its educational system into a true vehicle for inclusive development.

Toward Equitable Transformation: Reimagining Sri Lanka’s Education Future

Sri Lanka’s education system, hailed for its commitment to free access and impressive literacy rates, stands at a crossroads. Beneath the surface of national achievement metrics lies a network of persistent, interlocking inequalities, as discussed. Geographic divides between urban and rural communities, stratified school types, uneven teacher distribution, digital exclusion, gendered constraints, and barriers to tertiary access all form the scaffolding of a system that reproduces privilege rather than dismantling it. Even well-intentioned reforms, such as modular evaluation, risk intensifying these disparities when implemented without sufficient attention to contextual realities.

Addressing these challenges demands more than incremental policy shifts. It requires a transformative vision, one that places educational equity at the centre of national development. This entails not only expanding infrastructure and improving access to qualified educators but also reshaping curricula to foster critical, inclusive, and practical learning. Efforts like school clustering and digital expansion must be paired with investments in teacher training, linguistic equity, and targeted support for socioeconomically disadvantaged and linguistically marginalised communities.

Moreover, reform should not be confined to institutional design. It must confront the socioeconomic roots of educational exclusion, from child labour to poverty-linked dropout rates. Ensuring that rural and estate students are not only admitted to universities but are meaningfully supported throughout their academic journeys is essential for bridging aspiration with opportunity.

Sri Lanka has the foundational assets, high literacy, a history of public investment, and a population eager for opportunity. What’s needed is a recalibration of focus: from system preservation to system transformation. A truly equitable education system must be inclusive by design, resilient in delivery, and reflective of the nation’s diverse realities. Only then can education fulfil its promise, not just as a pathway to employment, but as a cornerstone of social justice and national progress.

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Midweek Review

Squeaky clean image of JVP in tatters

Published

6 days ago

2026/04/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

During the recent debate on the No-Confidence Motion (NCM) against Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody, Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) Batticaloa District lawmaker, Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam, warned that the next NCM would be moved against Fisheries Minister Ramalingham Chandrasekaran. Rasamanickam accused the National List member of corruption, a charge vehemently denied by the NPPer. The NPP/JVP needs to initiate an internal inquiry before corruption allegations overwhelm the party that received the full advantage of Aragalaya to transform the outfit from just a three-member parliamentary group, in 2024, to a staggering 159, a year later. The UNP and SLFP led alliances were dealt harshly by the electorates for want of action to curb corruption. Today, the UNP and SLFP are not represented in Parliament, while the SLPP, that secured 145 seats at the 2020 general election, was reduced to just three with its parliamentary group leader Namal Rajapaksa entering Parliament through the National List. Rajapaksa junior obviously feared to face the Hambantota electorate at the last general election. That is the undeniable truth.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The ongoing controversy over Agriculture, Lands, Irrigation and Livestock Minister K.D. Lal Kantha’s three-storeyed luxury house has intensified pressure on the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) government struggling to cope-up with the devastating coal scam, blamed on Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody forcing him to resign.

Jayakody, one of those who financed the NPP/JVP campaign in the run-up to the 2024 national polls ,resigned on 17 April, along with Prof. Udayanga Hemapala, Secretary to the Energy Ministry. Their resignations happened eight months after the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP), a breakaway faction of the JVP, revealed the alleged coal scam. The Lal Kantha affair received significant public attention though the primary issue at hand is the massive coal scam that ripped through the government.

Jayakody will continue as a National List member of the ruling party. The NPP/JVP won an unprecedented 159 seats, including 18 National List slots at the November 2024 parliamentary elections.

The Opposition dismissed government claims that the resignations were meant to facilitate the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the procurement of coal, since the commissioning of the country’s only coal-fired power plant during the onset of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second term. In the wake of the much delayed resignations, NPP/JVP heavyweight Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath, addressing the media at the Information Department, pathetically vouched for Jayakody’s integrity.

Let us discuss the accusations directed at Lal Kantha who had served the SLFP-led Cabinet for a short period, years ago, in terms of an agreement between the SLFP and the JVP. Lal Kantha had never been accused of corruption and was, in fact, one of those lawmakers who raised the issue both in and outside Parliament. Political parties may have forgotten that the UNP got rid of Lacille de Silva, Director General of Administration, Parliament, during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s premiership, in the 2001-2003 period, alleging he passed on information to Lal Kantha to attack the government.

The NPP Executive Committee member, as well as JVP politburo and Central Committee heavyweight, has publicly defended his right to own a luxury house amidst a section of the social media pushing for police investigation into the lawmaker’s wealth.

Unlike the owner/owners of the mysterious Malwana mansion, built on a 16-acre land overlooking the Kelani river, Lal Kantha didn’t try to disclaim the house ownership at Jusse Road, Welivita, in the Kaduwela area. The Malwana house was built towards the end of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second term as the President. The hullabaloo over the ownership of the Malwana mansion, and construction costs, dominated the 2015 presidential election campaign. On the basis of the Malwana mansion, the UNP and the JVP built a strong case against the Rajapaksas, accusing the family of corruption.

It would be of pivotal importance that the JVP backed Maithripala Sirisena’s 2015 presidential polls candidature. The campaign was built on an anti-corruption platform that earned the appreciation of the public who disregarded the unprecedented development work successfully carried out by the Rajapaksas, while also fighting a war to defeat the most ruthless terrorist organisation that was out to break up the country.

During a US-India backed violent protest campaign, in March-July 2022, an organised gang set the stately Malwana mansion ablaze. The general consensus was that the Malwana mansion belonged to Basil Rajapakasa, though he vehemently denied having anything to do with it.

Yahapalana Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, PC, is on record as having declared that the Malwana mansion would be renovated and used to accommodate a state institution. Lal Kantha’s newly acquired wealth has to be examined and discussed, taking into consideration his long standing claim that as a fulltime member of the JVP he entirely depended on his wife’s monthly salary and help provided by friends and associates. If that was the case, Lal Kantha couldn’t have ended up among the richest group of politicians, within less than two years after the last presidential election, held in September 2024.

Lal Kantha couldn’t have been unaware of the possibility of the Opposition, particularly the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), attacking him and the NPP/JVP over his Kaduwela house. Responding to critics, the Anuradhapura District lawmaker has claimed, on YouTube, that he sold a property he owned in Anuradhapura and used that money to acquire the Jusse Road land.

The outspoken Minister is also on record as having said that the existence of his new house, to which he moved in late 2024, was disclosed by him. However, incisive Youtuber Dharma Sri Kariyawasam has claimed that he made the revelation on 01 October, 2025, while another You-Tuber, Abeetha Edirisinghe, rammed up pressure on the NPP by lodging a complaint with the police, via the special number 1818. Edirisinghe’s SL Leaders YouTube posted a video of him lodging the complaint.

What made the complaint really interesting was Edirisinghe’s declaration based on ‘Dark Room’ YouTube allegations that wealthy businessman Nissanka Senadhipathi, who had been one of the closest associates of the Rajapaksas, provided the wherewithal required to acquire land, build and then furnish the Jusse Road mansion. Defending his position, Lal Kantha claimed that he acquired a piano for his daughter, about 15 years ago, while declaring he enjoyed the capacity to raise large sums of funds if necessary. A smiling Lal Kantha explained how he could effortlessly collect Rs 500,000 each from 100 associates/friends. Programmes posted by Dharma Sri Kariyawasam and Abeetha Edirisinghe are must-watch for those genuinely interested in knowing the explosive story, from different angles.

Close on the heels of debates on Lal Kantha’s mansion, the media reported the Minister’s last available asset declaration, sent to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), dealt with over Rs 80 mn worth of property, vehicles and gold, etc. The JVP heavyweight’s annual income has stunned even the staunchest supporters of the ruling party. Lal Kantha, through his lawyer, demanded Rs 10 bn in damages from ‘Hiru’ for wrongly estimating his properties, etc., at Rs 460 mn.

Both Dharma Sri Kariyawasam and Abeetha Edirisinghe propagated that police wanted the public to complain to special the number 1818, created to accept such complaints in case they felt suspicious about newly acquired property, regardless of who owned them.

Unexpected disclosure of Lal Kantha’s unprecedented wealth obviously stunned the public who genuinely believed in the unshakable NPP/JVP stand on corruption. Lal Kantha, who had joined the JVP in 1982, before becoming a full time member, in 1987, had no qualms in defending his new lifestyle, having repeatedly and bitterly complained about the difficulties experienced by him and his family.

In his defence, Lal Kantha emphasised that he hadn’t been accused of robbing the taxpayer or public sector corruption. However, the NPP/JVP all-out attack on all previous governments, over waste, corruption, irregularities and mismanagement, and branding all their MPs corrupt, cannot adopt such a stance. The Kaduwela mansion has sent shockwaves through the electorate. Dharma Sri Kariyawasam, in his response to Lal Kantha, repeatedly stressed that his wealth was being questioned by those who exercised their franchise in support of the NPP/JVP at the national elections and Local Government polls, in 2025.

Growing public resentment over what various interested parties, including the NPP/JVP called ill-gotten wealth of members and henchmen of previous governments fuelled Aragalaya (31 March-14 July 2022). Those who set houses and other property, belonging to various then government politicians and their associates ablaze, operated on the presumption that they were beneficiaries of ill-gotten wealth. The NPP/JVP powered the campaign, alongside the breakaway JVP faction, styled as Peratugami Pakshaya (Frontline Socialist Party) as well as the UNP.

Ranwala and others

Against the backdrop of Auditor General Samudrika Jayarathne’s devastating report on coal procurement for the 2025/2026 period and Lal Kantha’s declaration that he owned a three-storeyed house, the resignation of Asoka Ranwala, as the Speaker of Parliament, over his failure to prove his declared academic qualifications seemed uncalled for. Jayarathne signed that report on behalf of the National Audit Office (NAO).

The Gampaha District MP resigned on 13 December, 2024, just 22 days after being appointed the Speaker. The main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) relentlessly attacked Ranwala over his fabricated or unverified educational qualifications, specifically a Ph.D. from a Japanese university and a degree from the University of Moratuwa.

The NPP/JVP tried to defend Ranwala but quickly succumbed to SJB pressure. We never managed to establish whether Ranwala resigned on his own accord or the NPP/JVP asked him to resign to save the party. Similarly, the resignations of Energy Minister Jayakody and Prof. Hemapala, who cut a sorry figure before the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) recently, must have been demanded by the ruling party. Had the NPP bosses acted prudently, much earlier, after he was indicted before the Colombo High Court on a previous corruption case, they could have easily asked Jayakody to resign his ministerial portfolio before the Parliament debated the no-confidence motion against him.

Another case that really embarrassed the ruling party was accusations directed at Dr. Jagath Wickremeratne, who succeeded Ranwala as House Speaker. The Polonnaruwa District MP was the next to face fire, following a dispute with the Deputy Secretary General of Parliament Chaminda Kularatne who is also the Chief of Staff of the House. Kularatne hit back hard after Parliament sacked him over alleged irregularities. In a petition, dated 2 February, 2026, sent to CIABOC, Kularatne disclosed the circumstances the Speaker reacted angrily after he brought to the NPPer’s notice illegal actions and corruption, as well as his (Kularatne) recommendation in his capacity as the Right to Information (RTI) officer, to release certain information sought by civil society activists. Kularatne further claimed that the situation deteriorated further over an incident that happened on 18 June, 2025, or a date closer to that date, in the room where Speaker Wickremeratne had his lunch. Kularatne refrained from revealing the incident.

There hadn’t been a previous instance of a senior parliamentary official moving the CIABOC against the Speaker. The allegations directed at the Speaker, in respect of abuse of vehicles, taking two fuel allowances, misuse of equipment belonging to the Media Unit of Parliament, inadequate payment for lunch obtained for Chameera Gallage, Speaker’s private secretary, who had lunch with him, illegal payments made to retired Ministry Additional Secretary S.K. Liyanage, who was appointed to inquire into Kularatne’s conduct, suppression of release of information in terms of RTI, and uncalled for interventions in administration.

Kularatne’s complaint to the CIABOC failed to result in an expeditious inquiry, though a complaint lodged against a sacked parliamentary official appeared to have received much more attention. The NPP has responded cautiously to Kularatne vs Wickremeratne battle as pressure mounted on the ruling party over the coal scam that threatened to cause further increase in already unbearable electricity tariffs. The Auditor General’s report, in no uncertain terms, has implicated the Energy Ministry and Lanka Coal Company in the sordid operation that resulted in low-grade coal ending up at the Lakvijaya coal-fired power plant that earlier met about 30 to 40% percent of the country’s power requirements at essentially low cost, barring hydroelectricity.

The report declared that the term tender for the supply of coal was awarded to Trident Champhar, an Indian company that hadn’t been registered at the time it bid for Sri Lanka’s largest tender and procedures in respect of loading and unloading the cargo. To make matters worse, Minister Jayakody, who had been implicated in the coal scam, was recently indicted on corruption charges in the High Court of Colombo. There hadn’t been a previous instance of a sitting member of the Cabinet being indicted for corruption. Therefore, the NPP government cannot be happy over its steamroller majority in Parliament having defeated the no-confidence motion moved against Jayakody who remained confident in the parliamentary group’s support at the behest of the top party leadership.

The NPP/JVP finds itself in an extremely embarrassing and pitiful situation over the coal scam. The damning report issued by the Auditor General pertaining to the coal scam has to be examined taking into consideration the failure on the part of the government and the Constitutional Council to reach a consensus on filling the vacant Auditor General’s post in 2025. The post of Auditor General remained vacant from early April 2025 to early February 2026.

Role of NAO

The NAO functions as an independent body answerable to Parliament. The recent NAO report that dealt with coal procurement exposed the utterly corrupt system in place, regardless of assurances given by the government. The report proved that irregularities can be perpetrated and corrupt practices continued, regardless of assurances given by the current dispensation.

Over the past several years, tangible measures were taken to strengthen the NAO. Parliament certified the National Audit (Amendment) Act, No. 19 of 2025 on 22 September, 2025. That act introduced reforms meant to enhance public sector accountability, enforce audit findings, and streamline the surcharge process. The no nonsense report proved that in spite of interference and undue influence exerted on the NAO, those responsible did their job without fear or favour.

SJB lawmaker Mujibur Rahman, during the debate on the no-confidence motion against Minister Jayakody, alleged in Parliament that COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) Chairman Dr. Nishantha Samaraweera directly intervened when the NAO was in the process of finalising the report. The former UNPer called for an investigation to establish whether the Galle District NPP MP visited the NAO on several days to meet those handling the investigation.

We are not aware whether the COPE Chief, who called for the NAO to inquire into allegations in respect of coal procurement, visited the NAO.

However, the NAO report on the coal scam, now available online for all to study, underscores the pivotal importance of the anti-corruption fight.

In September 2025, the SJB asked the CIABOC to probe how some NPP/JVP Ministers amassed so much property. The SJB raised the issue with the focus on Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe (like Lal Kantha, he, too, represents the Anuradhapura District) amassed Rs 275 mn. The SJB’s complaint to CIABOC sought investigations on Ministers Sunil Handunetti, Bimal Rathnayake, Dr. Nalinda Jayathissa and Kumara Jayakody, and Deputy Minister Sunil Watagala.

Lal Kantha, who has now acknowledged having as much as Rs 80 mn worth property, was not among the lawmakers targeted by the SJB. Having falsely propagated an anti-corruption campaign to deceive the public, the NPP/JVP stand literally exposed before the public. The coal scam and Lal Kantha fiasco have caused irreparable damage to such an extent, their anti-corruption campaigns may not carry any weight with the public at future elections.

Midweek Review

Some languages confine you; some languages free you

Published

6 days ago

2026/04/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

‘… where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; ….

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward….into ever-widening thought and action…’

With wide apologies, I am going to put snatches of that poem into more dreary uses, though not quite desert sand.

What are those narrow domestic walls which break up the world into fragments? Languages.

Amiya reads the Gitanjali but does not read the Tirukkural. Hong Li reads Kong Fut Ze’s Analects but not Plato’s Republic. Paul reads Miton’s Paradise Lost but not Njal Saga. Sarath Kumara reads Wickremasinghe’s satva santatitya but not Darwin’s Origin of the Species. Ngidi does not read Thomas Picketty’s Capital in the 20th Century or Anthony Atkinson’s Inequality at all. Hirono uses Large Language Models to do homework but Rasolomanana has not seen a computer. And so on and so forth. The world is broken into fragments by languages, but not by languages alone. The daughter of a rich black man living in Howard County in Maryland goes to Stanford but a brown dweller in Dharavi cannot enter Jawaharlal Nehru University. The lesson is that it is not only languages or orthodoxies that break up the world into ‘fragments’ but also many other barriers, about one of which Tagore sang.

Language is a marvellous ‘invention’ of nature well cultivated by humans. No other species has the faculty to use language to know. Ludwig Wittgenstein expressed it epigrammatically, ‘whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.’ It is language that carries forth knowledge. It is not only language that carries forth knowledge: mathematics, in its own right, is a powerful carrier of knowledge. One can write something simple like if x-y=0, then x=y, as well as whole pages of complex and complicated arguments using mathematical notations. Mathematics may and often does write nature and about nature; it also writes about things that exist only in the mind. That is not different from languages: heaven and Vishnu exist in some minds but not in others or elsewhere. Galileo Galilei learnt ‘Nature is an open book but it is written in mathematics’. Much of nature is a closed book to those to whom mathematics is alien territory. But today, I am interested in how some languages ‘break the world into fragments by domestic walls’, while a few others fly about regardless. When a team from India played cricket with a team from Pakistan a few weeks back, the commentary was broadcast in India in 14 languages and in Nigeria national news is read in several languages. That same game of cricket also was broadcast to the rest of the world in one language: English.

When and how do some languages come to ‘lead the mind forward into ever widening thought and action’? The transformation occurs when users of one language become conquerors and rulers of peoples using other languages and when the users of a language become generators of new knowledge which are eagerly sought after by users of other languages. Greek, Latin and Arabic contributed mightily to the vocabulary of modern Western European languages. When new ideas in law, government, philosophy, medicine and science had to be expressed, they went to Greek, Latin or Arabic. Consequently, you will bump into Greek terms the moment you begin thinking about those disciplines. The serious study of Greek was introduced to England by Erasmus (of Rotterdam) about 1500 AC. The use of Latin began with the Roman Empire but took on new functions when Latin became the vehicle carrying Christianity east and north (of Europe) and elsewhere later. Until about the 18th century AC Latin was the language of learning in most of Europe. At its inception, Manchester Grammar School was a Latin school and the Boston Latin School which started in 1635 still thrives in that name. The two medieval universities in England were mostly seminaries teaching in Latin well into the 19th century. A wide swathe of languages is written with the Latin alphabet: European languages from the Black Sea to the Atlantic and from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, America from Canada to Chile, sub-Saharan Africa including Togo, and Indonesian, Malaysian and several others. The exodus of Jewish, Arabic and other scholars, after the fall of Constantinople (1453) to the Ottomans, brought Greek and Arabic to Western Europe including England. From about the 14 to the 18th century, European indigenous vernaculars grew to be carriers of new knowledge, especially in sciences. Luther’s reformation and the development of German had much in common. Gutenberg’s new printing press (1450 AC) helped the growth of European vernaculars and the spread of reformed Christianity.

Four western European languages stood out as both conquerors and carriers of new knowledge: Portuguese, Spanish, French and English. Arabic performed the same function from about 800 AC to the 13 AC when that language carried a new religion and new knowledge in mathematics, astronomy and medicine. Arabic replaced the indigenous languages in the entire Maghreb. The language of governance and learning from Mexico south to Chile is Spanish with Brazil using Portuguese and are collectively called Latin America, because Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and Romanian are Romance or Latin Languages. French is the language of governance and learning in several parts of West Africa. English was a phenomenon in itself. It destroyed the use of hundreds of languages in North America. It conquered almost half the world and English is the language of governance and higher education in a good part of the land it once ruled. As a language carrying new knowledge, English excels all others. As the collapse of four European empires, including the Ottoman, went on from about 1915 to about 1960, English, which produced new knowledge faster than any other, began to break ‘domestic walls’, the world over. China, which had little love for the English-speaking world, had millions of its citizens schooled in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia during the last 30 years and continues to do so, to date. In contrast, during that time how many rushed to Niger to learn Fulfulde or to Lanka to study Sinhala? The prominence of English was promoted by two other processes: one was translation into English of major works in other languages and the other the growth of a class of indigenous writers and readers in the conqueror’s language. One reads Oblomov, Gilgamesh and, indeed, Gitanjali translated into English. India now probably has more readers in English than any other single country. Persons in Western African countries have crafted in French and English, masterpieces in fiction, poetry and drama. Modern European languages have been both conquerors’ languages and carriers of new knowledge.

Several people recently have written in The Island and in Lankadeepa about the importance of using the ‘mother tongue’. They have stressed the importance of the ‘mother tongue’ in creative writing. As with observations regarding empirical phenomena, it is necessary to test those generalisations against reality. Samskrt is a language not entirely unfamiliar to many in this land. Samskrt was nobody’s mother tongue. (After all, it is deva bhaashitam.) There is not a shred of evidence that Kalidasa’s mother talked to him in Samskrt. But Kalidasa wrote rtusmahara and shakuntalam.. The vedas and upanishads were first spoken and later written in samskrt. Pali is nobody’s mother tongue but Theravada writings are almost entirely in that language. Isaac Newton wrote Principia Mathematica in Latin; we have no evidence that baby Isaac babbled in Latin. Paul Dirac wrote about particle physics in mathematics rather than in his father’s beloved French. Leopold Senghor’s mother tongue was not French nor Chinua Achebe’s English. More casually, check your own libraries. I had a collection of about 2,300 books until last year. There weren’t even 200 written in Sinhala and that 200 included editions of works from the 13th century. Check how many books written in Sinhala and English you bought in the last two years. There were far too many writers and scientists who brought forth highly acclaimed work in languages other than their mother tongue, contradicting the argument that the mother tongue was essential or even desirable for original work, in science or in literature.

Most languages ‘break the world into narrow fragments’. A few coagulate them into large masses: 900 million people speak Mandarin and 325 million, Bengali. A half dozen bind themselves together speaking a conqueror’s language. Four languages stand out as having ‘led the ‘mind forward into ever-widening thought and action’: Greek, Latin, Arabic and English. English, so far, is unrivalled.

by Usvatte-aratchi