Towards equity in education

Many leaders of the past spoke about providing equal education opportunities to the country's school going population. How far this has been accomplished is anyone's guess. Although we have a free education system that was meant to provide educational opportunities to the poor and underprivileged in rural areas it is doubtful if we have achieved our objectives.

Judging by the rapid close down of schools in the rural areas and the increasing number of school drop outs it is clear that free education has had little effect on certain segments of the population. Compounding the situation there is also a rapid dwindling of our school going population especially in the rural areas for various reasons. The chief cause is poverty and children of school going age being pressed into odd jobs to supplement the meagre incomes of the family. Malnutrition too has taken its toll on the rural and estate education sector.

What is therefore needed is not just providing good schools with proper infrastructure for rural schools but also attending to those other issues that keep the young away from schools. In essence a holistic approach that would revive the interest in education should be considered. It is in this context that it is hoped the pledge made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to eliminate all disparities between urban and rural schools providing equal educational opportunities for all would also take into account the various hardships and vicissitudes experienced by the rural population that stands in the way of their receiving equal educational opportunities.

First of all the pledge made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to eliminate all disparities existing between rural and city schools is to be commended. This move while providing equal opportunities to all would also break the snobbery and other superior labels attached to specific educational institutions that had even polarized society into different classes.

Participating in a scholarship program in Wellawaya connected to the on going Deyata Kirula exhibition the President said the Government's aim is to provide the same education available in Colombo to remote areas such as Wellawaya. "There will not be any disparity in the education at Royal College, Colombo or at a school in a remote area", the President asserted.

It is this lack of equal opportunity in education that has even created social upheavals in this country. The 1971 youth uprising also had its genesis in this perceived discrimination. It is the top schools in Colombo that hugged the limelight and ruled the roost in all spheres. The situation today is no different with rural schools still languishing on the sidelines. This needless to say has engendered bitterness and acrimony even leading to social stratification.

Therefore any move to remove these disparities deserve praise. But this cannot be done piecemeal. There is a need to study the whole set up and come up with a watertight solution so that discrimination in all forms are eliminated. Doing away with disparities in education between the city and rural schools should not be confined to providing equal facilities and infrastructure development as mentioned. These should be matched with the quality of education imparted and importantly the breaking down of social barriers.

Today there is a dearth of teachers in rural schools. Recently Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena disclosed how there was a massive surplus of English teachers in city schools while some rural schools had no English teachers at all. This shows a reluctance on the part of most teachers to serve in rural schools and thus unwittingly practising a type of segregation.

Hence there should be an attitudinal change and a new approach to the whole matter. Top educationists and tutorial staff should be made to serve in rural schools if the desire by the President to impart an equal level of education is to be realized. Government teachers should be made to serve in rural stations instead of going behind politicians to stay their transfers. Today only big city schools are equipped with hostels where children from the outstations come to reside. There should be a revised scenario where boardings and hostels are created in the rural schools for children in the city. Like we said there should not only be a change in the infrastructure and educational facilities but also an attitudinal change enabling a social mix between the affluent and rural children that would end the sense of ostracisation and discrimination, paving the way for social harmony.

President Rajapaksa should appoint a Special Task Force of experts comprising top intellectuals and educationists to draw up a blue print to ensure educational opportunities are equally spread among all sections leaving no room for discrimination. Now that he has pledged to eliminate all disparities in schools he should go beyond mere infrastructure development to extend this to a process of social integration that would eventually put an end to years of polarization based on the city and village.