Prof J E Jayasuriya: Educationist par excellence - Part III:

Population education

D S Mettananda

After JEJ’s premature retirement from the post of Professor of Education in 1971 he was invited by UNESCO to take up the post of Regional Adviser, UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Asia, Bangkok. He served in this capacity until 1976.

It was under his leadership that UNESCO initiated in 1972-73, national population education programs in the Republic of Korea, Phillipines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Thailand. These programs received the personal attention of JEJ and developed into training sites for hundreds of educators all round the world.

JEJ’s UNESCO colleagues were highly impressed by his organizational ability and dynamic leadership with which he conducted the workshops and encouraged the free flow ideas at a time when population education was being conceived as another name for family planning - a very sensitive issue at the time.

Asian region

JEJ guided his Asian colleagues in expanding the conceptual framework and designing the strategies to integrate population education concepts in different development programs. He was fully committed to develop among children and adults, a sense of responsibility and rational decision making abilities while facing problems of rapid population growth and poverty.

Because of his pioneering contribution in defining the concept of population education, developing its content and related training programs he is considered as the ‘father’ of Population Education in the Asian region.

In 1980 JEJ made a detailed analysis of the Korean Education System in his book entitled ‘Education in Korea - A Third World Success Story’. He had a two-fold purpose in writing this book, namely, ‘(1) to make known to educational planners and administrators in other Third World countries the Korean experience in education, for it shows what a country can achieve, given a firm determination and a sense of purpose, that do not let themselves to be swayed by every wind that blows; and (2) to provide teachers of comparative education with an account of Korean Education’.

Educational systems

He took the view that ‘books on educational developments in the Third World countries can provide a corrective to the tendency in these countries in the teaching of comparative education to concentrate on the educational systems of the USA, France, Britain and Japan for comparative purposes.’

He wrote that ‘the major reason for Korea’s economic success lies in the work ethic of the Korean people.’ This should be an example to us, Sri Lankans. He identified ‘4 roots in the Korean work ethnic, namely,

(1) the Confucian idealogy of veneration of elders that has clearly extended to the recognition by the worker of the pay master, be it an individual, an industrial organization, or the Government as paternalistic and therefore deserving of a loyalty that could be discharged only by an unflinching devotion to duty;

(2) the deep commitment to study over-whelmingly stressed throughout the entire period of schooling and possibly so firmly embedded in the personality structure of the average Korean that when he or she becomes a member of the work force, it takes the form of a dedicated commitment to work,

(3) the role models provided by the two nations which have had the greatest impact on Korea, namely, Japan and the USA, and the indelible impression in the average Korean mind that if the Koreans strive sufficiently hard, they can achieve what the Japanese and Americans have achieved; and

(4) the almost compulsive urge to show the North Koreans what stuff the South Koreans are made of.

Developed countries

In JEJ’s book on ‘Education in the Third World: Some Reflections’ (1981) he contrasted the Third World countries with the developed countries by identifying the salient features of the developed countries at the time of their take-off as follows:

(1) slow rates of population growth;
(2) availability of raw materials and markets in their colonies;
(3) absence of competition from other countries with advanced technology as almost all countries were at the same level of development and
(4) availability of an exploitable stock of labour with no labour laws or trade unions.

He added: ‘the Third World countries of today are midgets in a world of industrial giants who dominate all matters pertaining to international monetary affairs, trade and banking.’

JEJ warned that ‘these contrasting backgrounds should caution us against unbridled utilization of capital intensive technologies as they do not generate employment for our youth and he asserted that mass media should be restrained from holding up before young people exotic styles of life ....... giving rise to desires and aspirations that are unachievable.’

In 1982-83 JEJ served as the National Consultant of Educational Innovational and Change in the UNDP-UNESCO Project for Quality Improvement of General Education (later named as the Life Skills Education Project) headed by Eric J de Silva as its Chief Technical Adviser.

JEJ was responsible for assisting the project in identifying the schools to be covered by the project; analyzing the curricula, the qualifications of teachers and the resources available in these schools relevant to the aims and objectives of the project; evaluating the teaching of technical subjects in Secondary Schools and identifying in collaboration with International Consultants the structural changes, staff resources and material production facilities required to introduce the Life Skills Curriculum to Years Seven and Eight (Grades Six and Seven) of the Secondary School.

Technical subjects

JEJ first submitted a 52-page report entitled ‘The Teaching of Technical Subjects in Secondary Schools in Sri Lanka - an Evaluation’ revealing 14 deficiencies in the teaching of technical subjects.

These included limiting of teaching mainly to the three subjects Agriculture, Home Economics and Commerce out of the 13 technical subjects, quantitative and qualitative inadequacy of teachers for teaching technical subjects, inadequacy of tools and other facilities, non-availability of syllabuses and teacher guides, vagueness in syllabuses, inadequate attention to practical work, lack of supervision of teaching and feedback mechanisms and lack of storage facilities for safe storage of tools/equipment.

JEJ’s second report on the consultancy covered the distribution of schools among the 18 districts proposed for piloting the subject, possible content of the Life Skills subject and the list of projects for which first drafts were prepared indicating the skill areas, Grade and the number of periods.

JEJ’s findings and his advice and support given to us of the project team were very valuable in curriculum development, tools and equipment distribution, teacher training and evaluation activities pertaining to the Life Skills Curriculum.

Life Skills subject which was very popular among students due to its highly practical nature had been taught in the schools from the late eighties up to 1997. It was one of the subjects in the junior secondary curriculum under the 1997 education reforms.

Life Skills

However, a sudden decision was taken in the latter part of 1998 to replace the subject of Life Skills with a new subject called Life Competencies having a different focus.

Eric J de Silva delivering the 13th J E Jayasuriya Memorial Lecture in 2003 on the subject ‘Some reflections on policy making in education’ referring to the above ‘decision which was taken by the National Institute of Education (NIE), an implementation agency which had no mandate to make/change education policy’ said this was ‘a good example’ to show how ‘policy making in education was up there for grabs, to use a popular expression, leaving it open for agencies which had no policy-making mandate, ad hoc groups and even individuals to take important policy decisions.’

In 1982 Colombo University awarded Prof Jayasuriya the degree of Doctor of Literature (honoris causa) in recognition of his unique contribution to Education in this island during its formative years.

In 1987 the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Science (honoris causa) in recognition of his contribution to the development of its Education Department as a Consultant and also as a member of the OUSL Council.

In his OUSL Convocation Address, he spoke of his confidence in the techniques of Distance Education. He referred to a lecture he had delivered in India in the 70s, around ten years before the OUSL came to be established; In this lecture he had drawn the attention to the potential of this method of education in developing countries in reaching out to large numbers, at a minimum cost whilst, at the same time, safeguarding the quality of education provided.

Reference was made to the inaugural Dr C W W Kannangara Memorial Lecture delivered by Prof Jayasuriya at the NIE in 1988. Prof Jayasuriya was appointed a member of the NIE Council in 1986 and he served in this capacity until 1989.

It is clear from the above analysis that a wider view of development was the essence of many of Prof Jayasuriya’s writings.

His message will continue to inspire us and will be relevant, indeed increasingly relevant, to the problems of today and tomorrow.

(The writer is former Chief Commissioner, Colleges of Education and Consultant, ADB and WB Education Projects, Education Ministry)

Concluded