Job-oriented higher education reforms, need of the hour.
Recognising the importance of an education system that paves the way for integral development of a nation, some countries including Sri Lanka have practiced and promoted a free education policy. Sri Lanka’s free education policy, initially proposed by A. Rathnayake and vigourously implemented by C. W. W. Kannangara made the country rich in literacy. Every government since Independence implemented this policy with the aim of providing an equitable right to every child to access and benefit from education and making a responsible and resourceful citizen to the society. However, the stakeholders of education merely attempted to provide the education free of cost, without making a serious attempt to make essential reforms to provide students with quality education required to suit the rapidly changing global demands.
Furthermore, the annual budget allocations to education did not match the growing demand and there is an increased concern by both the academia and the educationalists on the allocation of funds from the annual budget that tends to reduce. During the last government there were a series of protests by trade unions affiliated to the education sphere to increase the allocation of funds to state education up to 6% of the GDP.
There was strong resistance from several student organisations and trade unions to opening of the education sphere to the private sector. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa lamented this obstructive attitude of some quarters. “I do not understand this attitude, which has held back Sri Lanka’s education system for decades,” he said. “It is no secret that our country’s education system has not kept pace with the requirements of today’s world. There is a mismatch between the education generally on offer in Sri Lanka and what is necessary for our country to develop in the 21st Century.”
Addressing the convocation of Kotalawala Defence University last week the President called for educational reforms, especially in the tertiary education system. “I strongly believe that no matter the degree programme followed by university students, they must all graduate having gained at least some proficiency in information technology.
At minimum, they should have had the opportunity to gain some experience in working with computers.”