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Education in Sri Lanka

Population: 20 million people

Literacy Rate: 90.4 %

GNP: USD 1,160 per capita

Human Development Index: 0.74

Sri Lanka´s population is highly educated with a literacy rate of 92%, higher than that expected for a third world country. Sri Lanka has one of the highest literacy rates of South Asia.This can mainly be attributed to the free education system in Sri Lanka. All levels of education, from primary to higher education, are funded and overseen by the Ministry of Education.

Structure

Sri Lanka´s education structure is divided into five parts: primary, junior secondary,senior secondary,collegiate and tertiary. Primary education lasts six years (grades 1-5) and at the end of this period, the students may elect write an exam called the Scholarship exam. This exam allows students with exceptional skills to move on to better schools. After primary education, the junior secondary education (some times referred to as middle school) lasts for 4 years (grades 6-9) followed by 2 years (grades 10-11) of preparation for the General Certificate of Education (G.C.E) Ordinary Level (O / Ls). According to the Sri Lankan law, it is compulsory that all children go to school till grade 9 (age 14) at which point they can choose to continue their education or drop out and engage in apprenticeship for a job or farming. However, the Ministry of Education strongly advises all students to continue with their studies at least till the G.C.E Ordinary Level. Students who are pursuing tertiary education must pass the G.C.E O / Ls in order to study for another 2 years (grades 12-13) to sit for the G.C.E Advanced Level. On successful completion of this exam, students can move on to tertiary education.

Due to the variety of ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, many schools teach only in either Sinhala medium or in Tamil medium and not the English medium. The elite colleges in major cities such as Colombo and Kandy, teach in all three medium.

Private Schools

There has been a considerable increase in the number of private schools in Sri Lanka, due to the emergence of the upper-middle class during the colonial era. Many of the private schools have access to newer facilities than state run schools. Currently there are 33 non-fee-levying Assisted Private Schools (also known as semi-government schools) and 33 fee levying autonomous Private Schools, in addition to the Government Schools. Out of them, the most famous ones are St. Joseph´s College, St Peter´s College and St. Benedict´s College which are Catholic Schools; Ladies College, Colombo and St Bridget´s Convent, Colombo which are Anglican schools; Ladies College, Colombo and St Bridget´s Convent, Colombo are Anglican schools; Methodist College and Wesley College which are Methodist school and Musaeus College, Holy Family Convent are semi-government schools.

International Schools

International schools in Sri Lanka are not restricted to the expatriate community, anyone with the ability and willingness to pay can join these schools. Starting in the late 1980´s these schools have no regulation or control by the Ministry of Education as it comes under the Board of Investment (BOI), due to this the standard of education varies greatly between schools. The schools are mainly for the children of the expatriate community, charge high tuition fees and can therefore provide good facilities and high standards.

The majority of International schools prepares students for the Edexcel General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary , Advanced Subsidiary (AS) and Advanced (A2) Level examinations, which is the most popular qualification. Preparation for Cambridge International Examinations is also offered by a few schools but is less popular.

The Overseas School of Colombo is the leading international schools for expatriates, the curriculum followed leads to an IB Diploma. This, together with The British School in Colombo are the sole IB World Schools in the country.

University System

University education is also free but very limited. This is noteworthy to mention, especially due to the fact that, Sri Lanka is named a third world country. However less than 12% (close to 14,000 students) of those qualified get admission to the State Universities. Admission to the university system is based on the highly competitive GCE Advanced Level examination. So, only the top students from urban district get the chances of having tertiary education. Children from remote districts can get in with lower marks. As a result, many students who are not granted admission are forced to find other means of higher education. Some students go abroad to pursue their studies in a foreign universities, others enroll themselves at the Open University of Sri Lanka or at the few state-owned autonomous degree awarding institutes or study as external students of traditional universities or at private institutes that conduct classes and exams on behalf of foreign universities (such as the University of London External Programme). Some study for entrance / membership for local and foreign professional bodies (such as CIMA, BCS, ACCA, etc) or do vocational studies at vocational technical colleges which specialize in mechanical and electronic subjects. But the majority give up any hope for higher education due the inability to fund their studies since no financial support is given by the government other than to those qualified to get admission to the State Universities.

There is significant number of unemployed graduates in Sri Lanka at present, except in the fields of medicine, engineering, information technology, commerce and law; many state university graduates are unemployed as there is no demand both within and out side the country for the degrees they have done. Due to these reasons, many intellectuals often express the need of Private Universities in the country, where students could study in their home country at a lower cost. The North Colombo Medical College (NCMC) was one such institute, prior to its nationalization, it produced some of the best doctors in Sri Lanka. But efforts to establish Private Universities have been block due to protests of state universities students and leftist political parties.

There are currently 16 state universities in Sri Lanka. The prominent ones are University of Colombo, University of Peradeniya, University of Moratuwa, University of Kelaniya, University of Sri Jayawardhenapura, University of Jaffna, University of Ruhuna, and Eastern University of Sri Lanka. In recent years with changers to the University Act a few institutes have been given permission to grant their own degrees, the most prominent is the government owned Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology.

Apart from these, the Ministry of Education has launched a non-formal education program which allows school left-outs and adults who did not complete their school education, to earn a living, through self-employment. Most of these courses are held at community centres and they cover a wide range of fields such as dressmaking, beauty culture, hairdressing, stitching, carpentry, plumbing, painting and so on.

Updated On: 15.02.09