Higher
education and Tertiary Education sectors are one of the most powerful sectors
of education in Sri Lanka and it will inspire the country’s value, ethics and
social institutions so that Sri Lanka becomes celebrated as an enlightened and
peaceful multi-ethic, multi-religious and multi-cultural society.
EDUCATIONAL
ACHIEVEMENTS
·
Initiated
free education for primary and secondary educations in 1943.
·
Achieved
very good education indices in Asia by 1960’s
·
Achieved
universal access to primary education by 99.6
·
Achieved
Millennium Development Goals(MDG) 2, 3,4,5,6 & 7 with health and education
indicators.
CHALLENGES
Gross
enrolment ratio (GER) at tertiary level 17%, 24,198 (16.7%) was only selected
out of 144,816 which qualified for state university entrance.
Ø Main challenges of the education
system are lack of quality, attractive and relevance to job market.
Ø
Changing
population profile from child to adolescent & youth.
Ø
Increase
labour force from 7.3 million in 2010 to 8.9 million in 2015
Ø
Annually
about 150,000 adolescents and youth join
the labour force with low skills or no skills at all.
Ø
Unemployment
rate is 4.3% but youth unemployment is higher (13%)(Source:http://www.statistics.gov.lk/samplesurvey/2015Q4report.pdf)
Percentage of students by stream
Percentage of A/L students by stream
Graduate
output by stream
SOURCE: http://www.tissl.lk/Presentation1.ppsx
Employed by Discipline
STRATEGIES
FOR NEW REFORMS
Ø Strengthening organizational
linkages among the relevant Ministries (Education, Higher Education, Youth
affairs, Skills Development, Labour, and Productivity).
Ø Introduction of Mandatory career
guidance in schools and higher education institutions.
Ø Strengthening English Teaching and
Trilingualism (Sinhala, Tamil and English) and Introducing assessments for
listening and speaking skills.
Ø Decent work available for adolescent
and youth through skill enhancement - Strengthen regulated &
certified vocational training
Ø Degrees at Universities to be labour
demand oriented- The curriculum content of academic programmes will be
redesigned to match the requirements of employers with new Technology
Faculties.
Ø Skills of Migrant labour improved -
Vocational training to cater to ‘skilled’ migrant labour force as opposed to
the ‘unskilled’ in the past towards decent work.
Ø
Public-private
partnership in education and training - Non-state universities and degree
awarding institutions will be encouraged, with regulatory controls on quality
and accreditation requirements. And while significant investment will be done
as a part of the joint loan programme from private institutions.
Ø
Provide
the monthly financial stipend similar to Mahapola scheme to improve the social
recognition of Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to
attract the sufficient number of students.
1.
More liberal education grants, scholarships,
bursaries, bank loans are recommended.
2.
Learner support with more apprenticeship and on
the job training opportunities to lesson the financial burdens on the families
should be organized.
3.
Create an environment for private sector
sponsorship of students in government tertiary education institutes by
consulting their views on course renewal and curriculum development
Ø
Introduce
modules on entrepreneurship, finance, business ethics and personality
development in TVET.
Ø
Increase
the quality and relevance of existing academic programs at the higher
educational institutions.
o
Soft
skill development of students
o
Updating
curriculum
o
Development
of new academic programme
o
Staffs
development
Ø
Awareness programmes should be organized for
more females to undertake studies in the fields of nursing, home economics,
hotel receptionists, airline ticketing, beautician courses etc.
References
1. Increasing the allocation for the
education to 6% of GDP proposal. Tertiary, vocational & Professional
Education-2015, NHRDC
2. Increasing the allocation for the
education to 6% of GDP proposal. Higher (University) Education.
3. Options
for expanding access to higher education for g.c.e. (a/l) completers
National Education Commission, Sri
Lanka, October, 2007.
4. Statistical Bulletin on Education,
NHRDC 2015
5. http://www.tissl.lk/Presentation1.ppsx
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