Why Should We Compromise On Quality Of School Education?
By Mithula Guganeshan –May 29, 2015
Mithula Guganeshan
Sri Lanka boasts and is often reported as one of the South Asian countries with highest literacy rate of 98%, basically the ability to read and write one’s signature. We claim to be continuously improving Development indexes, a trendsetter for easily achieving most of the development educational goals such as literacy rates, student enrollment and mean years of schooling. However, do these scores provide any accreditation to the quality of education being provided in Sri Lanka? Education is a basic human right and neglecting to focus on the quality of education has been the root cause for all the local issues.
Sri Lanka, a middle income country’s Education expenditure as a percentage of GDP was only 1.9% (CBSL, Annual Report 2014). The education expenditure didn’t even meet the recommended levels of 5.4% for low income countries (UNESCO, 2015). Sri Lanka’s Education system has an opportunity and room for further improvement.
Shortage of qualified teachers impacting the high dropout rates, low achievement levels of the students are some of the areas that need to addressed immediately. Developing a value based system in terms of training/recruiting educators instead of teachers is essential to provide a quality education.
“A true Educator locates the intelligence and abilities within another, drawing them out for all, even the student, to see. And then steps out of the way allowing them to develop, create and pursue their talent.” – L. Ron Hubbard
We need more qualified educators to impart knowledge by laying a strong foundation towards developing future leaders.
However, based on the current situation the least we can expect is to recruit qualified teachers with acceptable levels of experience and skills. Teacher Recruitment and Mobility study conducted at National level reveals only 4% of the teachers are graduates or above, whilst 77% have obtained teaching certificates/diplomas and 19% untrained teachers. (J. Balasooriya, 2010). Is this an acceptable quality of teachers preparing future leaders?