Being an organiszation inclined to address context-bound issues, the CED is cognizant of the value of an updated information system which provides a reliable data base to decide its advocacy priorities. In addition to direct consultation of grassroot level stakeholders and partner organisations, it retrieves information from apex bodies that command direction.
The key concerns of the CED, as recurringly highlighted by the partner organizations too, have to deal with reaching EFA goals, utilization of physical and teacher resources optimally, provision of facilitating and child-friendly learning environment in schools, promotion of managerial capacity of educational personnel and effective and accountable utilization of funds.
The priority advocacy issues are found to have radiated form seven epicentres. i.e.
Schools
Teachers
Pupils
Curriculum
Physical resources
School management
Financing
Their rational relationships are schematically depicted in the sequel
1AB schools (with GCE A/L Arts, Commerce and Science)
-
646
1C schools (with GCE A/L Arts, Commerce only)
-
1810
Type 2 schools (with GCE O/L only
-
4237
Type 3 schools (with classes up to 6 or 8 only)
-
3034
Total
-
9727
Out of these
324 are National Schools – The most sought- after prestigious schools, invariably 1AB &
388 are Navodya Schools resourced more to reduce demand for National Schools
Schools by medium of instructions
Schools by number of Pupils
Sinhala only
-
6500
1-50 pupils
-
1533
Tamil only
-
2825
51-100 pupils
-
1358
Sinhala & Tamil
-
40
100-150 pupils
-
1092
Sinhala & English
-
249
151-200 pupils
-
886
Tamil & English
-
86
201-500 pupils
-
2542
Sinhala, Tamil & English
-
27
501-1000 pupils
-
1336
1001-1500 pupils
-
492
1501-2000 pupils
-
210
2001-3000 pupils
-
191
3001-4000 pupils
-
59
4000 and above
-
28
Schools by number of teachers
Pirivenas
1 teacher schools
-
167
Mulika
-
425
{
2 teacher schools
-
350
Maha
-
177
652
3-9 teachers’ schools
-
2920
Vidyayathana
-
50
10-25 teacher
-
4217
26-50 teachers
-
1407
Private Schools
51-100 teachers
-
528
Non fee levying
-
34
{
85
101 and above
-
138
Fee levying
-
26
Special education
-
25
The structure has
created following issues
to be addressed
Lack of policy on a coordinated system of schoolsThe establishment and location of schools in Sri Lanka have a historical origin rather than a rational origin resulting in an imbalanced education delivery system. The prestige accorded by the public to most of the popular, urban schools is also based more on historical acceptance than on their performance. This has created an undue demand for some schools over the others making them overcrowded and centers of competition for admissions. The repetition of vicious cycle makes them still more resourceful at the expense of the other schools which face the threat of being closed down. This is reflected by the fact that nearly one third of the student populations have their schooling in 646, 1AB schools while only 8.7% are served by 3034 type 3 schools. Further 41% of schools have less than 150 pupils leading to wastage of resources. Existence of one teacher and two teacher schools entails multigrade teaching.
Lack of policy for the establishment and monitoring of private schools The practice of permitting the establishment of schools under BOI and registration under Companies Act is inadmissible. Moreover in the future they may lead to a duality and a lingual divide in the education system.
Remedial action proposed
Establishment of a viable network of schools at each divisional level by creating or restructuring or networking of existing schools through:
Creating high quality child-friendly primary schools for children drawn from a catchment area of 3 km to be organized as feeder schools to secondary schools within a radius of 5 km
Developing each year a specified number of quality secondary schools in each division
Developing high quality secondary schools in the 100 poorest divisions by 2016
Developing schools with less than 100 students in economically and socially deprived and remote communities
Mapping out a legal framework to establish private schools
Policy leading to the establishment of a rational school system delivering quality education
Policy with regard to the establishment of private schools including international schools
Teachers
Teachers (2005)
-
187,339
Student teacher ratio
Student teacher ratio (overall)
-
21
Graduate teachers
-
51,929
Trained teachers
-
127,936
1 AB schools
-
25
Untrained teachers
-
4,050
1 C schools
-
22
Trainee teachers
-
1,489
Type 2 schools
-
17
Other teachers
-
1,935
Type 3 schools
-
19
1 AB schools
-
48,870
Boys schools
-
26
1 C schools
-
57,233
Girls schools
-
26
Type 2 schools
-
62,856
Mixed schools
-
20
Type 3 schools
-
18,380
Emergent Issues
Lack of a clear teacher deployment policy resulting in teacher shortage in remote rural schools and surplus of teachers in urban affluent schools
Lack of a clear policy for teacher recruitment
Lack of a strong pre-service and continuous and in-service teacher development programmes to improve quality of teaching
Need for motivating teachers on a recurring and regular basis and disseminating the good practices initiated at the school level
Need to train, untrained teachers
Lack of a policy for employing volunteer teachers
Lack of consistency and coherence among the various education services in terms of entry criteria, training opportunities, career prospects, mobility across and between services, salaries and benefits and performance standards
Remedial action proposed
Formulation of a policy for teacher recruitment, teacher development and teacher motivation
Reviewing the work done by the TETD project
Policy formulation for teacher recruitment and teacher deployment
Establishing a comprehensive teacher development framework
Implementing a reward structure for teachers
Planning and implementing a teacher development programme to enable teachers to meet the demand for curricular reforms, to transform the teaching –learning process and to function as change agents in promoting attitudinal changes
Developing capacity building programmes for educational personnel at all levels
Framing a performance appraisal scheme for all educational personnel
Pupils
Total number of pupils (2005)
-
3,942,412
Grade 1 admissions
-
318,089
1 AB schools
-
59,855
1 AB schools
-
1,243,851
1 C schools
-
91,719
1 C schools
-
1,262,387
Type 2 schools
-
100,753
Type 2 schools
-
1,093,922
Type 3 schools
-
65,762
Type 3 schools
-
342,252
Male
-
161,793
Female
-
156,296
Male students
-
1,964,355
Female students
-
1,978,057
School avoidance (2002) by children aged 5-14 by province
Primary cycle (1-5)
-
1,611,132
Total
-
57,100
Junior secondary (6-9)
-
1,339,182
Eastern
-
34,846
Senior secondary (10-11)
-
620,246
Southern
-
8,883
Senior secondary (12-13)
-
371,852
Sabaragamuwa
-
5,523
North Western
-
3,478
Uva
-
2,586
Western
-
1,031
North Central
-
380
Central
-
349
(Source : World Bank)
Emergent Issues
Non-enrolment – A few percentage, especially belonging to poor and marginalized groups still avoid enrolment. The enrolment rate of the 11-14 age group is 95%
Non-completion /Dropout – 17% of students who enroll do not complete compulsory education (5-14years)
95% of the enrolled complete primary education but the achievement in first language and mathematics is low
Underachievement - Over 50% sitting the G.C.E. (O/L) do not qualify for senior secondary education. For them it is the exit point.
Automatic promotions- The practice of automatic promotions, promote pupils who have not achieved minimum level of competencies at the previous grade. The accumulative effect is the abysmal failure at the point of exit.
Remedial action proposed
Implementing compulsory education regulations at primary level by activating School Attendance Committees
Introducing special measures for children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds
Continuing free education and provision of welfare measures to all pupils
Improving education for children with special educational needs
Raising parental awareness about the importance of home environment for the education of children
Extending opportunities for science education, especially in rural areas
Initiating non-formal education programmes for adolescents who either have never enrolled in school or dropped out before completing basic education
Adoption of child-centred learning-teaching methods in school
Issues for Advocacy
Implementing compulsory education regulations
Education watch for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds
Educating parents
Promoting child-centered learning
Identifying out-of-school children and adolescents through a survey and strengthening non-formal education
Promoting multi-media in the learning process
Pupils
Primary Level
The primary curriculum is integrated, activity based and aims at the achievement of a set of minimum level competencies at the end of each year. Though there is no strict subject differentiation, the activities are based on the following subject areas.
Subject area
No. of hours per week
Key Stage 1
Key Stage 2
Key Stage 3
Mother Tongue
5
5
5
Mathematics
3 ½
5
5
Environment Related Activities
5 ½
6
7 ½
Second National Language
½
1
1
Religion
1 ¼
2
2
English
-
3
3 ½
Physical Activities
1 2/3
1 ¼
1
Activities related to pupil interests
-
-
½
Co curricular activities
½
½
½
Secondary Level
The subjects and the number of periods per week for each for respective grades are tabulated below.
Subject
Junior Secondary
Senior Secondary
6
7
8
9
10
11
Religion
2
2
2
2
2
2
Sinhala Language / Tamil Language
5
5
5
5
5
5
English
5
5
5
5
5
5
Mathematics
5
5
5
5
6
6
Science
5
5
5
5
6
6
History
2
2
2
2
3
3
Geography
2
2
2
2
-
-
Life Competencies and Citizenship Education
2
2
2
2
-
-
Aesthetic Subjects (Art/ Music/ Dance)
3
3
3
3
-
-
Practical and Technical Skills
3
3
3
3
-
Health and Physical Education
2
2
2
2
-
-
Sinhala / Tamil (as second language) Library
2
2
2
2
-
-
* First Basket of Subjects
-
-
-
-
3
3
† Second Basket of Subjects
-
-
-
-
3
3
# Third Basket of Subjects
-
-
-
-
3
3
Periods not allocated
1
1
1
1
3
3
* First Basket of Subjects
Geography
Citizenship Education and Civil Administration
Entrepreneurship Studies
Classical and Modern Languages (Pali / Sanskrit / French / German / Hindi / Japanese / Arabic)
† Second Basket of Subjects
Music
Art
Dance (Local/ Bharatha)
Drama and Theatre (Sinhala / Tamil / English)
Literacy Appreciation (Sinhala / Tamil / English / Arabic)
# Third Basket of Subjects
Information Communication Technology
Agriculture and Food Technology
Fisheries and Food Technology
Design and Technology
Arts and Crafts
Home Economics
Typesetting and Shorthand
Health and Physical Education
Communication and Media Studies
Grades 12 and 13
The curriculum in Grades 12 and 13 prepare the students for the G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination which is also the selection Examination for Universities. The minimum requirements to enter a University are 1) Ordinary (s) passes in three approved subjects and 2) Scoring not less than 30% in the Common General Paper.
The University courses are categorized under four main subject streams.
Arts
Commerce
Biological Science
Physical Science
The approved subject combination depends on the course the candidate intends to follow. The approved subjects are listed below.
Economics, Geography, History, Home Economics, Elements of Political Science, Logic and Scientific Method
Buddhism, Buddhist Civilisation, Hinduism, Hindu Civilisation, Christianity, Greek and Roman Civilisation, Islam, Islamic Civilisation
Art, Dance (Sinhala), Dance (Bharatha), Drama and Theatre (Sinhala/ Tamil/ English), Music (Oriental / Karnatic/ Western)
Low priority given to activity-based learning and teaching, technical subjects and personality development in grades 10-11
Science education being limited to 25.6% of schools with grades 12-13
Little progress made in introducing IT to schools
Difficulties faced by secondary school leavers to fit into the world of work
The moral behavior of the child is not shaped to hold good citizenship
Need for modernization and diversification of curricula at school levels
Non-use of local physical environment in interpretation of the national curriculum
Non-use of local personnel and expertise in the teaching process
Promotion of School Based Assessment (SBA) as an in-built component of the teaching–learning process which is at low ebb
Mismatch between the existing structure and proposed curricular reforms
Trend to re-introduce a subject based curriculum at the G.C.E. (O/L)
Delay in the introduction of Technical stream for the G.C.E. (A/L)
Remedial action proposed
Exploring the network of schools with facilities for G.C.E (A/L) Science and Technology education
Formulation of a vision and guidelines to assist future curriculum development
Orienting the curriculum to develop generic skills such as problem solving, self-regulation, self-efficiency, team work
Promoting constructivist, cooperate and activity based teaching and learning at classroom levels
Modernizing and diversifying school curriculum to match the world of work and wider range of aptitudes
Paying attention to cross-curricular themes, horizontal and vertical subject links and minimum learning competencies in the design and development of curricula
Building capacity of educational personnel facilitating the transformation role of the teacher
Preparing up to date curricular materials both print and electronic
Incorporating computer assisted learning
Utilization of local physical and human resources in curricular transaction
Evaluating and promoting the practice of School Based Assessment
Issues for Advocacy
Making the structure of the system more flexible to harmonize with the proposed curricular reforms
Advocating for a child – centered learning – teaching process at classroom level
Exploring indigenous strategies and local resources to promote curricular transaction
Integration of SBA in the school system as an integral part of the teaching –learning process
Expediting the introduction of Technological stream for G.C.E. (A/L) classes
