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| Thursday, 1 January 2004 |
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The report of the National Policy Framework on General Education was presented to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga by the Chairman of the National Education Commission Professor R. P. Gunawardane at the President's House on 30 December 2003. Professor Swarna Jayaweera, Vice-Chairperson of the National Education Commission was also present states a National Education Commission press release. In pursuance of its mandate the National Education Commission has formulated a comprehensive set of proposals for a National Policy Framework on General Education for the first time since independence. This is considered as the most comprehensive set of proposals for a National Policy after Kannangara report of 1943. This has been formulated after a situation analysis of the current education system, evaluation of 1998 reforms, public consultation followed by an extensive deliberation, review and consultation process during 2002/2003 a media release in the NEC stated. A comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness of the implementation of education reforms introduced in 1998 is given in the report. Further, the National Education Commission in its report has endeavoured to maintain continuity of education policy by strengthening successful on-going policy reforms and to stimulate change to meet emerging needs and challenges, in the context of national goals. In this report the proposals are presented under six major areas: (i) educational opportunity, (ii) renewal and relevance of curriculum, (iii) professionalisation of educational personnel, (iv) education governance, (v) resource allocation, and (vi) education legislation. The report has identified three major contributory factors for the overall inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the Sri Lankan education system. They are: (i) extensive politicisation of the system at all levels. (ii) lack of coordination (a) within the Ministry, (b) between the Ministry and Provincial Authorities, and (c) between the Ministry and other agencies coming under the Ministry. (iii) inefficiency, incompetence and indifference of officials and principals and lack of motivation among the teachers. Furthermore, lack of continuity of policies and programs and reversal of policy and termination of programs after the change of governments or even change of Ministers in the same government during the last five decades have seriously affected education development in Sri Lanka. It appears that the allocation of insufficient resources, discrepancies in the distribution of resources and mismanagement of even the meagre resources allocated to education sector leading to wastage, have aggravated the situation still further. Political will at the highest level is needed to correct this situation. Furthermore, bipartisan approach is essential for the continuity of education policies and programs. Unless politicization is eliminated from the Education System no amount of policy reforms, structural and organizational changes can prevent the breakdown of the system. Hence, leaders of all political parties should agree to eliminate political interference in the education system, make a Joint Declaration in this regard and implement an action plan to achieve this goal on a priority basis in the best interest of the nation. The National Education Commission hopes that these proposals will stimulate public Interest and wide participation of all stakeholders in effecting the proposed reforms. |
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