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by G. Dhamawardhana

Recently the Ministry of Education announced the establishment of 50 model primary schools during this year at a cost of Rs. 30 million or so. This program is to be repeated in the next four years as well. Last year the facilities of some 50 former central schools were upgraded spending a similar amount. The objective of these programs is said to be to reduce the massive rush for admission to the so called popular schools in urban centres.

At a provincial school

During the last few decades too a number of similar programs were implemented. Model schools, royal colleges, national schools etc. were established in different parts of the country. But the rush for admission to popular schools does not seem to diminish. In fact it is increasing at an alarming rate. According to a recent media report 300,000 had applied for admission to 100 popular state schools this year.

It also stated that around 1,000 small schools had to be closed down last year as they did not have sufficient students. Out of 10,000 state schools 7,000 have less than 200 students whereas some popular schools have over 6,000.

The rush for popular schools is only a symptom of a disease. Treating only the symptoms is not going to cure the disease. In fact some of the steps taken by the authorities in this regard, with the best of intentions, in the past have aggravated the situation.

status

We can have some idea of the present status of our state education system when we consider the following:

Violent forms of ragging, extortions and gang wars are becoming a common occurrence. Inter-school sports events are being replaced by inter-school gang wars. Gangs of students from a national school invaded a nearby smaller school and attacked its staff and students and damaged the school as well.

Gang wars are spilling out from schools to private tuition classes as well. In the course of investigating a violent clash among students attending private tuition classes in Nugegoda, the Police had discovered that around 30,000 students flock to private tuition classes in this town each day during weekends. The situation is likely to be the same in other towns as well. Most of them are from prestigious State schools. Police posts are being established in universities to prevent students from killing each other. It looks as if we might have to establish them in schools and private tuition classes as well in the near future.

The number of students applying for university admission has come down this year. Violence in universities is believed to be at least one reason for this situation.

Last year A/L students in the Southern Province staged a public protest campaign against an Education Ministry Directive which required them to have 80% attendance to qualify them to sit the examination as school candidates. As a result this percentage was reduced to 50% as a temporary measure.

Almost all of them were from popular State schools. This is a clear indication that students are attending private tuition classes even during school hours. It has become a vicious cycle. Teachers don't teach properly because the attendance is poor and any how students perform well at the examination through private tuition. Students do not attend classes in their schools because no proper work is being done there. This has led the Schools Development Minister to remark recently that the dedication of the teachers is found only in tuition classes.

rich

Parents are well aware of this situation. But they have no alternative that the rich and the influential families have. They are the private schools, international schools, overseas schools and the choice of the medium of instruction for their children. The less privileged parents are forced to some how get their children admitted to popular State schools even by resorting to all types of corrupt practices. It is mainly because of such practices that the general public regard State education sector as the most corrupt after Police and the health sector.

I believe, in Sri Lanka every child is still entitled to an acceptable form of education upto the age of 14 years. The prime concern of the policy makers, administrators and all the others involved in the process of education has to be the health and well being of the child.

He is not an inanimate object which could be transported daily without any damage even over 100 miles. Physical and mental health of the child deserves consideration. Hundreds of thousands children start their daily trip to school even before dawn and minus their breakfast. The breakfast they eat during the interval is a sandwich brought from home or some "Junk food" from the canteen.

tired

By the time they come back home after a long journey it is evening and too tired to enjoy any lunch. That is not the end of the ordeal for many. They have to rush to some private tuition class as well. By the time they finish their tuition and home work for the day they are too tired even for a proper dinner. As such it is no surprise that the level of malnutrition among school children is increasing in spite of the rising standard of living. In addition to malnutrition, recent studies have revealed that the incidence of juvenile a diabetes too is on the rise in the country.

It is believed that poor diet, irregular meals and stressful lifestyle are partly responsible for this increase. The exposure to long hours of air pollution in crowded vehicles is mainly responsible for the drastic increase in asthma and other respiratory diseases among schoolchildren.

Increase in mobility and long hours of freedom away from parental supervision are mainly responsible for the increase in truancy, drug abuse and various other forms of antisocial activities among schoolchildren. The purpose of the Year 5 Scholarship examination too deserves serious review.

Is it to select better students from deprived families and provide them with some financial support so that they could continue their studies without financial difficulties or to give the winners the opportunity to enter popular schools. In the fist place very few, if any from deprived families could pass this examination. It is a fact that all those who could afford send their children from Year One onward to prepare them for the scholarship examination. It is with them that the poor children without any private tuition have to compete.

It is an unequal contest. We are actually testing the competence of the private tutor. Sending a primary schoolchild for tuition after school when he should be resting or doing some leisure time activities does not help his health or development. The pressure this examination brings on the child is immense. Driving the child even beyond the limits of his capabilities to realise the dreams of the parents is criminal.

The impact this examination has on those who pass or fail and on the parents, teachers and the school should also be considered. Those who pass are uprooted from the school and the surroundings and admitted to a popular urban school.

Very few of them have hostel facilities and as such, they will be forced travel a long distance to school daily with all the negative outcomes of such travelling.

validity

Whatever the validity and the reliability of this all important examination may be, those who fail feel intellectually inferior and worthless. This feeling is consolidated through casual remarks or gestures, of parents or teachers. This could affect at least some of them psychologically.

Teachers themselves could become demoralised if they feel that the cream of the school has been removed and they are left with only the dullards to continue with. The government spends billions annually to provide free education to every child. In addition, billions have to be spent to provide them with free textbooks, uniforms and even financial support to many. Yet educating children has become a severe financial burden to most parents. The main expenditure is on private tuition and travelling. Some modifications have to be made in the school system to reduce this burden.

*Every child has a right to education and the State is duty bound to provide it without discrimination. Therefore, the priority should be to provide essential basic facilities to underprivileged schools and not the establishment of a few super class schools under various attractive names. About two years back it was reported that Rs. 30 million was released to a Colombo 7 super school for the renovation of its hostels. This amount would have been sufficient to provide badly needed essential facilities to 500 schools.

*The love and devotion of the principal and the teachers for a school develop only with their long association with the institution. Transfer of staff every five years or so is ok for Divisional Secretariats but not for schools. Therefore, the possibility of recruiting teachers for specific schools on a non-transferable basis should be considered. But they should have the right to resign and join another without losing their retirement benefits. During recruitment past pupils should receive preference wherever possible. The principal and the Development Board of the school should have a say in the appointments.

*Graduates should receive one year's training before they are appointed to schools.

*Every teacher should receive a comprehensive training in counselling. It will help the students as well as the teachers and improve the discipline in the school.

*Year Five Scholarship examination should be scrapped and in its place low income families with school going children could be given an additional allowance under the poverty alleviation (Samurdhi) program.

*Except in areas where the population density is very low children should have their school within walking distance. This will eliminate a number of problems face by children, parents and the general public.

*Most of the State enterprises running at a loss are being privatised or their management handed over to the private sector. But it is not possible in the case of education. However, it is not difficult to forge a partnership with the private and NGO sectors to improve the facilities and the quality of education especially in rural areas.

*The thirst for English is becoming very acute even in rural areas. In fact this is one of the reasons for the clamour for admission to popular urban schools.

Therefore the schools that are being closed down could be handed over to religious and social service organisations acceptable to the people in the respective areas to establish and operate State assisted free English medium schools.

They are sure to serve as models to State schools. Let the less affluent citizens also have the opportunity of selecting the school and the medium of instruction for their children. At present this choice is available only to those with money and influence.

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