Sri Lanka's education reforms among best in Asia Pacific region

[July 12, 2005 - 10.00 GMT]

[Daily Mirror - 12th July, 2005] The Asia Pacific Report Card on Education for all is out, and the teacher's comment, "Very good performer" sums up Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's performance.

Sri Lanka ranked 3 out of 14 countries in the Asia Pacific(below Thailand and Malaysia) in a 'school report card' investigating developing countries' commitment to basic education.

The report ‘Must Do Better’ is published by the Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education - a network of 200 organisations and individuals involved in formal and non-formal adult education - and the Global Campaign for Education - a coalition of development organisations and unions in over 100 countries.

The report will be released simultaneously in different countries in the Asia Pacific on the first week of July as part of the July 1 White Arm band day campaign of the Global' Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP).

In Sri Lanka, the National Coalition for Educational Development (Sri Lanka) would launch the report on July 1, 2005 in a ceremony inviting ambassadors of G8 countries, civil society and media.

The report uses the format of a 'School Report Card' to rank the leaders of these developing countries as 'class leaders' or 'poor performers'. Countries are graded and ranked based on their performance on: Complete Basic Education, State Action on Free Education, Quality Inputs, Gender Equality and Overall Equity - to depict their Commitment to basic education.

The 'Teacher's Remarks' section for Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga reads Chandrika's high marks in nearly all subjects show that Sri Lanka's leadership is truly serious about meeting its promise of education for all. Primary school age children are in school; access to secondary schooling is admirable; adult illiteracy is steadily being reduced; public basic education is completely free; state financing is adequate for delivery of quality inputs to each pupil; and most importantly, the difficult challenge of achieving gender equality throughout education, not just numerical parity, Is being met with very good results.

However, she must consider raising spending per pupil a bit more to further Improve the quality of inputs, particularly the number of trained teachers. Her other weakness: Lack of timely disclosure of more detailed Information. I hope that in the coming term she will give this task equal attention so her classmates can learn more from her splendid work".

Sri Lanka scored 79/100, and received a 'B' grade. The performance is evidently better than that of neighbours Pakistan (14th. 24/100, 'F': "Back to basics, Pervez!"), India (9th, 43/100, 'E': "Needs a lot of improvement"), Bangladesh (7th. 50/100, 'E', "You need to work harder Begum Khaleda"), Napal (11th, 35/100. 'F': Definitely needs remedial classes.") Who have all fared poorly.

The report demonstrates that 11 out of 14 countries are doing poorly in ensuring free, basic education of good quality to their citizens: Eight countries get marks of 'C' to 'F' Indicating poor performance even in just ensuring access to basic education. Half of the countries in this report fail the gender equality marks.

This observation comes at a crucial time. In the year 2005, the first of the Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets - ensuring gender parity in classrooms - falls due. It is already admitted that 75 countries all over the world (representing 60% of the countries who pledged to this goal) will miss the 2005 targets.

Sri Lanka's experience and the performance of six (6) other countries in this report prove that achieving the gender targets in education is possible. Sri Lanka and Thailand further set good examples in working towards sustaining these gains with state action curbing user fees charges.

Inaction NOW would be a scandalous loss of opportunity since country experiences underscore the fact that firm commitment by states and adequate Investments In education benefiting girls is eminently possible.

Even if all developing countries substantially increased their own education investments, however, many would still need additional support from rich countries in order to achieve the Education for All targets and the MDGs.

It is therefore deeply worrying that bilateral and multilateral aid to basic education in low income countries, although it Increased to $1.7bn in 2003, is still only about one-fifth of what is needed. For only $5.5 billion more per year, quality, free education can be provided to every child, unlocking the full power of education to beat poverty. This amounts to less than two and a half days' global military spending.

The positive examples in this report, notwithstanding, the poor performance of countries covered in this report represents an over-all failure of political commitment and woefully inadequate Investments to education, thus consigning 216 million boys and girls away from primary and secondary schools and 508 million women and men denied literacy skills in the countries covered in this report alone.

‘Must Do Better’ seeks to serve as a wake-up call to world leaders and citizens alike to make education for all a reality.

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Last Updated Date: July 12, 2005 - 10.00 GMT