Opinion

Educational reforms Sri Lanka demands today for a brighter tomorrow

Published

3 years ago

2022/10/21

The 32nd Dr. C. W. W. Kannangara Memorial Lecture titled ‘For a country with a future’: Educational reforms Sri Lanka demands today’ delivered by Prof. Athula Sumathipala, Director, Institute for Research and Development, Sri Lanka and Chairman, National Institute of Fundemental Studies, Hanthana on Oct 13 at the National Institute of Education, Maharagama

Continued From Yesterday

Have these educational reforms from 1947 to date resulted in a sufficient number of citizens who are ready to face the 21st century, citizens who think beyond personal gain, and developed teachers, intellectuals, educationists and politicians, who have the capacity and the will to help develop such persons? The reality, however unpleasant, is that, no, it has not.

Has the Kannangara vision become a reality?

The aim of widening access to education was to help develop citizens, teachers, intellectuals, educationists and politicians, with the capacity and will to think beyond personal gain. Did such increased access achieve this aim? Or did it unexpectedly result in a process of converting the educated few among the poor into wealthy individuals and members of the elite? And in political power moving into the hands of a significant percentage of people who focus primarily on their rights and not on their duties and social responsibilities?

How did Israel which was established as a country in 1947 end up a developed country whereas Sri Lanka which established free education in 1947 end up a bankrupt nation? How did Sri Lanka which had the second strongest economy in Asia at the time of its independence in 1948, next to Japan alone at the time, fall so far? Can we escape this crisis without examining the factors for this fall? Why did progressive thinking not develop in line with widened access to education?

According to our conclusions based on behavioural science, economics, humanities, sociology, psychology and political science, the factors driving the current social, economic and political crisis are:

• Political leadership without a vision: the primary factor is the political leadership that governed the country post-independence, and particularly after 1977, and the narrow political vision

• Severe failures within political structures: most politicians are not honest representatives who hold themselves responsible to the public

• Corruption: politics has turned into a mechanism where wealth can be earned using the power and benefits available to politicians

• Wrong economic policies and management: failure to protect export income, import costs exceeding export income and unlimited borrowing to cover the discrepancy between dollar earnings and expenditure

• The decline of the quality of the government service: government service becoming inefficient, corrupt and suborned by political power

• Weakened moral fibre of the people: Perpetuating ignorance and poverty for political gain, failure to empower people and inculcating a mentality of dependence founded on a focus of rights alone and a disregard of duties and responsibilities

The common factor tying up all that is stated above is the lack of an education system that can engage and triumph over local and international challenges, that can ensure developing skilled and productive citizens. A key reason for this failure is the lack of a State Education Policy, which resulted in each successive government implementing disparate policies during their times. In the same vein, student organisations and trade unions carried out protests based on political motivation rather than societal needs. The solution to all issues can lie in high quality educational reforms which consider the Sri Lankan nation as a single entity.

Educational reforms Sri Lanka demands today for a brighter tomorrow

Educational reforms necessary today cannot be discussed in isolation from the global situation; they must be viewed within a broad framework of global economic crises as well as the Covid pandemic since the entire world has been turned on its head by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 1950, Rene Dubois, a French microbiologist, environmentalist and humanitarian, who later became the Professor of Community Medicine and Tropical Medicine at the Harvard University, warned that nature would attack back at an unexpected time, in an unexpected manner. This is what we saw in 2019. The high-risk behaviour of humans, pollution, destruction of forests, use of anti-microbials, changing biomes, chemical pollution, urbanisation, rapid population increase, ultra-consumerist culture challenging sustainable limits have led to the destruction of the environment. Most people remain unaware that the floods, landslides that we call natural disasters are not in fact natural but are a result of human actions.

Faced with this unpleasant truth, education today should move towards an in-depth analysis of how we should educate ourselves to protect humanity by overcoming these challenges. It is necessary to re-examine our thoughts, feelings and behaviour in the face of the global challenges we need to overcome. Therefore, the aim of Sri Lankan education and educational reforms should be the development of a child, an adult and a citizen who looks at the world from a new perspective and is sensitive to humanity; who aims to leave a future that is better than our past to our unborn children. It is my duty to remind everyone that there is no other alternative left to us.

This country requires citizens, teachers, intellectuals, educationists and politicians who have the skill and the ability to support the development of children and people who can face and manage change, and have a vision beyond personal gain. This is therefore the best time to discuss broad educational reforms which can support the challenges of this generation. In this context, what is essential are educational reforms which go beyond expanding access to education and changing curricula, or reforms which consider development of dollar-earning, exportable human resources as their only objective. The demand today is for reforms that go beyond these basic aims and aim to enhance morality and human values.

Gaveshana Magazine, of which I am a member of the editorial board, recently published its 39th special edition on the theme of ‘Educational reforms the country demands to develop a productive citizen adaptable to the modern world’. Professor Gominda Ponnamperuma, Head of the Department of Medical Education of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo stated as follows in writing an article on ‘Student-focused education and traditional education in Sri Lanka’ for this edition:

“The education system that exists in Sri Lanka today is not one that has identified the needs specific to Sri Lanka, develops human resources to match those needs, nor one that has been enriched by the positive aspects of global trends in education. What exists today is the education system developed by British colonials. This system is not currently practiced even in Western countries. Those countries too have given priority to student-centred education. The student-centred education system we believe in is closer to the education system we originally had in Sri Lanka rather than to the system that was forced on us by the British, that they themselves reject today, but that we continue to maintain.

What is the student-centred education system we believe in? This concept is based on the definition of the word ‘education’. Currently, education is defined as skills to be developed through understanding, experimentation and experience, rather than material that can be transmitted from one person to another.

If education is a resource that flows inertly from a teacher to a student, then, education can be limited to confining a group of students to a room, and a teacher providing a series of lecture notes according to a set timetable. Yet, education is not thus defined. In that case, what defines student-centred education? True education, as previously defined, should be a process where a student, together with other students and a teacher, engages in effective conversation, allied student experiments, experiences and activities, leading to the acquisition of mental and physical skills as well as conceptual and spiritual change. It is however questionable if this is feasible in a school classroom of today?

For this to be feasible, there needs to be an environment where students can form small groups in a classroom to carry out experiments and discuss experiences under the guidance of a teacher, leading to intellectual, physical and conceptual development in the children. However, the classrooms of today are only suitable for information transmission from the teacher to the student, and not for conceptual and intellectual development through discussion between the student and the teacher. Continuing in this vein will prolong a ‘memorising education culture’ that dulls critical thinking. For future Sri Lanka to have an intelligent, skilled work force with strong values, the current classroom structure needs to change.

A counterpoint to this claim is that a teacher is weakened in student-centred education. That is completely false. In teacher-centric education, the teacher prepares notes and passes it on to the students. The teacher then explains anything the students do not understand. Students then learn the teacher-provided notes and reproduce such learnings at an exam. In student-centred education, the teacher develops ‘learning stimulants’ that need to be discussed and experimented on with students, for example, documents, reports of practical applications, activities to engage in. Students explore the stimulants the teacher developed, in small groups. The teacher directly participates in such discussions and experiments and explains any confusing or difficult points. The teacher consistently assesses if the students have reached the educational targets and objectives.”

The explanation above indicates how student-centred learning can further strengthen the role of the teacher rather than weaken it, and how it can lead to greater creativity and enjoyment in the profession of teaching.Pre-colonial Sri Lanka had an education system which is the polar opposite of teacher-centric education. In this system, the teacher would identify the skill set best aligned with the student and would teach the student either fencing, or archery, or irrigation methods, or agriculture and so on. It is quite student-centric since the teaching content and method is modified to suit the needs of each student, rather than a ‘one size fits all’ education methodology that assumes a single teaching and learning methodology meets the requirements of all students.

As we pointed out previously, education is well-known in this country as something that should have, but has not, evolved. Last year, this task of educational reforms was assigned to the Educational Reforms and Distance Education State Ministry. Dr. Upali Sedere, Secretary to this Ministry, disclosed in a special article for Gaveshana magazine the proposed reforms, which are due to be enacted under the current Minister as well.

The reforms are based on six key objectives:

i) active contribution to national development

ii) effective and efficient work-oriented person

iii) person with entrepreneurship mind

iv) patriotic person

v) good human being

vi) happy family

The curriculum that is based on these factors consists of four separate parts:

i) scholarship

ii) productive citizen and activity-based education

iii) teamwork

iv) emotional development

This will be structured on a modular method, on a student-centred basis. The curriculum is divided into three parts:

i) essential learning

ii) self-learning

iii) extra curriculum

Accordingly, the objective is to guide students towards a vocational education based on extra activities. It is mainly intended for years 1-11, or general education, according to Dr. Sedere, however, simultaneous change is necessary in both years 12-13 and in the university education system.

Dr. Sunil Jayantha Nawarathne, Director General of the National Institute of Education, writing in the same magazine, discusses the basis of the proposed amendments as follows:

“Our country has an education system that dates back two thousand five hundred years. This excellent education system was subjugated and lost with the expansion of the education system the British imposed upon us, leaving us with this British system by 1948. We have still been unable to establish a home-grown education system seventy -four years later, leading to multiple issues in the citizens who follow this education system. We need a new generation suited to the 21st century. To achieve this objective, the National Education Institute is introducing these new 2022 educational reforms with a national objective in mind. Creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial mindset are what we aim to achieve with this new education system.”

Let us examine what a productive citizen, fitting the 21st century looks like.

21st Century and 4th IR ready human capital

21 CHC = 3R + 3L + 2C + SDL

21 CHC – 21st Century-ready Human Capital

3R – Reading

wRiting

aRithmetic

3L – Learning skills

Literacy skills

Life skills

2C – Character development

Citizenship

SDL – Self-directed learner

He terms the current education system in Sri Lanka as a 3R system – (Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic). This does not include innovation or questioning the status quo. He accepts that advancement is not possible using the old system, when the reality is that we are now 22 years into the 21st century. “Even an old mobile phone does not meet the requirements of today. A Smart phone is now a necessity – for using the internet, photography, banking and many other activities are now carried out using the smart phone. To change the system to meet today’s needs, the 3R system needs further additions: 3L, 2C and SDL.

3L – Learning skills, Literacy skills, Life skills

2C – Character development, Citizenship

SDL – Self-directed learner

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Opinion

Losing Oxygen

Published

4 days ago

2025/11/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

Loss of free atmospheric Oxygen: We are taking out more than ecosystem can put back

The ability of expressing our fundamental right to breathe clean air is over. The Global Commons of air is rapidly being impacted, in addition to an increase in the concentration of Carbon Dioxide and a decrease in Oxygen concentration. The concentration of toxic gasses and airborne particulate matter in the atmosphere is increasing. While a global compact on the quality of air as a fundamental right, is urgent consideration of its impact on health must also become a matter of concern. he most essential thing for our existence is the ability to breathe. The air that we take for granted is like an invisible river of gasses considered a part of the ‘Global Commons’ or those resources that extend beyond political boundaries. The Commons of air is composed of a mix of gasses, the dominant being Nitrogen at about 78%, followed by Oxygen at 21%. Carbon Dioxide that is contributing to climate change accounts for only 0.04% and demonstrates how small changes in the concentration of gasses in the atmosphere can bring about massive changes to those that live in it.

The Oxygen component of the air we breathe was made by those earliest plants, the Bryophytes, which colonized land from 470 Ma onwards. This land colonization increased atmospheric oxygen to present levels by 400 Ma. The fire-mediated feedbacks that followed have stabilised high oxygen levels ever since, shaping subsequent evolution of life. Oxygen is the most crucial element on earth for the aerobic organisms that depend on it to release energy from carbon-based macromolecules. The current stocks have been maintained over millions of years by plants, terrestrial and oceanic. To sustain a gaseous concentration at around 21% of the air we breathe. This level is required to maintain a healthy body and mind. A lowering of this concentration has consequences. At 19% physiologically adverse effects begin. Impaired thinking and attention, reduced coordination, decreased ability for strenuous work is experienced, at 15% Poor judgment, faulty coordination, abnormal fatigue upon exertion, emotional upset Levels below this lead not only to very poor judgement and coordination but also impaired respiration, lung and heart damage. The question often arises: ‘If the atmospheric Oxygen concentration is 21% how can it vary so widely in different areas ? The answer is that ‘when you add other gasses, smoke and aerosols into the atmosphere, the concentration of atmospheric gasses will decrease in concentration. In some cities like New Delhi or Mexico have Oxygen concentrations measured at about 18% or lower.

There has been a clear decline in the volume of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere over the past 20 years. Although the magnitude of this decrease appears small compared to the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, it is difficult to predict how this process may evolve, due to the brevity of the collected records. A recently proposed model predicts a non-linear decay, which would result in an increasingly rapid fall-off in atmospheric oxygen concentration, with potentially devastating consequences for human health.

The free Oxygen in the atmosphere is 1.2×1015 tonnes (12,000,000,000,000,000 t), but it is unstable in our planet’s atmosphere and must be constantly replenished by photosynthesis in green plants. Without plants, our atmosphere would contain almost no O2. An important thing that needs international address is the fact that the system that replenishes the Oxygen of our atmosphere is under threat. We remove the vegetation that produces the Oxygen at a prodigious rate. According to Global Forest Watch we fell about 15 billion trees each year. With one tree one tree producing about 120Kg of Oxygen per year, the loss of Oxygen production through deforestation is massive. The impact on the oceans is becoming just as serious.

As human activities have caused irreversible decline of atmospheric O2 and there is no sign of abatement, It is time to take actions to promote O2 production and pay for industrial use and consumption of O2. Vehicular traffic in cities with poor air flow design transforms molecular oxygen O2 into Ozone O3. Ozone is good when it is high up in our atmosphere. It protects us from sunburn. Ozone is bad when it is near the ground where we can breathe it in. You can’t see ozone in the air but bad ozone levels is sometimes called smog. It is formed when chemicals coming out of cars and factories are cooked by the hot sun. Breathing in ground-level ozone can make you cough. It can also make it harder for you to breathe. Ozone might even make it hurt to take a breath of air. When you breathe in ozone, it makes the lining of your airways red and swollen, like your skin would get with a sunburn.

All this becomes even more pressing with the discovery of the “human oxidation field” a beneficial chemical microenvironment formed around the body’s surface that helps protect it from volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This field is generated by the reaction of ozone with oils and fats on our skin, especially the unsaturated triterpene squalene, which constitutes about 10 percent of the skin lipids that protect our skin and keep it supple. The reaction releases a host of gas phase chemicals containing double bonds that react further in the air with ozone to generate substantial levels of OH radicals. As the Ozone levels as in cities rise, the individual ‘human oxidation field’ looses its ability to maintain skin health.

In looking at the question of why there was such a rapid loss in the quality of air, the first study to systematically analyse the global O2 budget and its changes over the past 100 years, found that anthropogenic fossil fuel combustion is the largest contributor to the current O2 deficit, which consumed 2.0 Gt/a in 1900 and has increased to 38.2 Gt/a by 2015.

The inability to defend our fundamental right to breath seems to stem from the ability of any industry to discount the consequences of burning fossil fuels as a ‘negative externality’. Climate Change is one consequence, but the impact that lowered Oxygen concentrations will have on emerging urban populations seem disturbing. There is only one way to arrest the fall in atmospheric Oxygen, increase the rate of photosynthesis. There must be a protection of the existing stocks of photosynthetic biomass and programs that encourage increasing the standing stock of Oxygen to be able to sustain our fundamental right to breathe clean air.

by Dr. Ranil Senanayake

Opinion

Appreciation: Upali Tissa Pieris Seneviratne

Published

4 days ago

2025/11/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

My brother, close on two years senior to me, was into sports – cricket, football, and athletics were his favourites. We were at De Mazenod College for our primary schooling, moved apart thereafter – he to Ananda College which had hosted all our male relatives from our father and his brothers, our mother’s brothers and all our male cousins on either side, while I was sent to Royal. He moved, thereafter, to the Royal Post-Primary which turned into Thurstan College.

There he distinguished himself at cricket and, together with his captain, Brindley Perera, provided the runs. He also had the distinction of being the first at Thurstan to pass the SSC examination. At that point he returned to De Mazenod where he won, what was called, the Senior Proficiency Prize, captained the cricket eleven, and was the senior athletics champion.

That last was witnessed by the district head of the Police and led to his being rapidly drawn into the Police force.

Following initial training at Katukurunda the new recruits were posted to distant Police Stations as Sub-Inspectors. He had spells in the Hiniduma area and in Galenbindunuweva, off Anuradhapura.

It was while he served at Anuradhapura itself that he met with an accident that almost took his life. He came out of that with a limp.

That did not prove to be a substantial handicap and he served with distinction in Kosgoda and other stations on the south western coast before he was moved to the CID. There he played a major role in solving what came to be known as ‘the Kalattawa Case’, which led to the arrest and due punishment of a wealthy producer of illicit booze – a man who had ‘pocketed’ a good many public servants who were entrusted with the enforcement of the law.

In the early 1970s, he was entrusted with investigations related to the activities of a group of agents of Lankan and foreign right-wing politics, which called itself ‘the JVP’. Among those he had arrested was a colleague of mine, Susil Siriwardena, who later managed to secure a show of incarceration in a Ward at the General Hospital (where the only luxury he enjoyed was access to some books). In due course, many years later, President Premadasa, besides other responsibilities imposed on him, related to his initiatives in Village Reawakening (Gam Udawa), put Susil in charge of the Janasaviya programme.

It is a pity that my brother and fellow officers have not placed on record their experience of that ‘April Insurgency’.

My brother served with distinction in both the CID and the CDB. When Lalith Athulathmudali was in charge of Internal Security, in the late 1970s, my brother was seconded for service in that Ministry as Director of Training. The Secretary was Denis Hapugalle, who was an Army man – and their approach to ‘training’ differed. After a year or two, Upali reverted to the Police and took early retirement to set up a Security service that served several Mercantile establishments for over 30 years.

He contributed much to the development of the Police retired senior officers organisation, which he served for many years as its Secretary and its President.

He was the most generous of men and gifted with a sense of humour that he would have inherited from our father. May he reach the bliss of Nirvana!

D G P (Gamini) Seneviratne

Opinion

Archaic rules affecting bank customers

Published

4 days ago

2025/11/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

At present, there is a rule in (state-owned) commercial banks that prevents individuals from opening accounts if they reside in an area different from the address stated on their National Identity Card (NIC). The justification offered is that this helps prevent money laundering and the handling of illicit funds.

However, one must question the logic of this rule. How exactly does it stop such individuals? A person with ill intentions could just as easily open an account in the area mentioned on their NIC. Moreover, even if there are, say, one lakh fraudsters in the country, this rule effectively imposes restrictions on twenty lakh genuine citizens — penalising the many for the misdeeds of a few. How fair is that, and how does it encourage people to save and participate in the formal banking system?

The government constantly speaks about digitalisation and technological advancement, yet continues to tolerate outdated and impractical regulations like this.

Consider another case: a customer of a state bank urgently needed to encash a fixed deposit opened at a distant branch. When he approached the branch near his current residence, he was told to visit the original branch, as that branch must physically receive the original FD certificate upon encashment. One wonders what is the use of highly paid branch managers, fax machines, emails, and even WhatsApp, if two branches cannot coordinate to resolve such a simple issue?

Unfortunately, the customer has to travel 200 km to reach the original branch.

If the government truly wishes to build a modern, technologically advanced financial system, it must first eliminate such archaic rules and adopt smarter, technology-driven safeguards against fraudsters — without punishing honest citizens in the process.

A Ratnayake