Our Education: From Where Do We Start?
By Ratnam Nadarajah –June 11, 2016
Ratnam Nadarajah
Development Of The Nation: Education System To Fit A Globalised Economy
The role of education, especially higher education is a major player in thedevelopment of the country and a prime-driver of economic growth. This role will increase further with emerging changes in technology and economic needs in the whole world and individual countries. Globalisation poses new challenges for all inhabitants. This is more so for developing nations such as ours. The rate of technological change will continue to increase exponentially. The only thing permanent is change itself. People expect living standards to be higher with more ‘luxuries’ becoming ‘necessities’ and a greater proportion of income will be spent on education, leisure, household services, sports and culture. To remain competitive in the light of these changes, the country will need to improve productivity, change mind-set and adopt an innovative spirit. This is easily said than done in Sri Lankan context. This is not because of the lack of intellectual capacity but the absence of adequate facilities and in many cases affordability makes it harder to achieve a competitive base.
Higher education is in a unique position to help achieve these goals. Sri Lanka’s future in the global knowledge economy depends critically on the country’s intellectual and human capital. If the country is gearing to take off and advance as a fast growing middle-income country, it is critically important that Sri Lanka has the human capital needed to compete with global knowledge economy. The ability of people to think and act creatively, work productively and efficiently; communicate effectively and innovate and adopt new technologies to strengthen economic activities is vital. (Singapore is a living example, thanks to the vision of its founding father(s)). Thus Lanka needs a higher education system that can produce skilled, hard- working and enterprising graduates. Also, the country needs a research and innovation capacity capable of promoting dynamic economic development. We do not want Sri Lanka to be a dumping ground for unsustainable productions and services.
Where do we start, or what is the base line? As discussed in part one there are no easy options or fit for all panacea. To be competitive it is essential that nation like Sri Lanka have an education system and standard in place be at least in par with competing economies. There is an urgent need to organise the educational institutions at all levels not only to meet the global challenges but also be ahead other players. The starting point I would imagine be the secondary education followed by vocational education and finally tertiary education.
Secondary education is the base where foundation for further education can be cultured. Science education is an essential component if we are to produce students capable of meeting the global challenge, in product design development, world class manufacturing and most importantly the opportunities digitised world.
