Today many young people coming out of secondary education: only 25% attend higher education, where access is very low and inequitable. Of which too large a share of students are in humanities and arts relative to sciences/engineering (50% vs. 17%); great variation in quality and abysmal quality of External Degree Programs (40% of total enrollment) another 30% enroll in TVET with low quality and relevance to market needs the remaining 45% will have limited opportunity to acquire further job-specific skills (except on the job market).
On the other hand employers see skills shortage as a major constraint; and question the quality and relevance of general education, TVET and higher education. Therefore, the national education strategy needs to take into account that skill building is a continuous process starting from early childhood: “Skills beget skills” along the life-cycle. Focusing only on the end of the education cycle may be too late and not address the core issues.
To address these issues we would need to have one powerful body/person with a clear mind to take control of education from primary to higher education and then ensure the entire system works together. Singapore did this very well in the ’80s and continues reinvent their policies to attract over 40,000 skilled people in to their country annually.
In summary, Sri Lanka does not have enough of the right skills, and not enough skilled people; we need to address this challenge without delay if are to realize our vision.
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