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Mohan Lal Grero, Deputy Minister of EducationMinistry of Education

Monitoring Member of ParliamentMinistry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development

NEW EDUCATION REFORMS

Government of Sri Lanka

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Initiated Free Education for primary & secondary educations in 1943.

Achieved very good education indices in Asia by 1960’s.

Achieved universal access to primary education with 99.6% completing primary education.

On track to achieve MDGs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 with notable health & education indicators.

Proportion of Pupils Starting Grade 1 who reach Grade 5( by Sex )

1990 2002 2006/7

Overall 68.1 95.6 99.6

Male 64.1 94.7 99.3

Female 72.6 96.5 99.8

Source: Annual School Census & Special Survey on MDG goals 2006/7, Dept. Of Census and Statistics

EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS(3)

Main challenges of the education system are lack of equity, quality and relevance to job market

Changing population profile from child to adolescent & youth Increase in labour force from 6.3 million in 2000 to 7.3 million in 2010 Annually about 150,000 adolescents and youth join the labour force with low skills or

no skills at all Unemployment rate is 4.2% but youth unemployment is higher (19%)

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CountryRank out of 131 countries

Rank in quality of primary education

Rank in quality of overall education

Sri Lanka 42 44

India 80 37

Thailand 80 37

Malaysia 23 18Source : World Development Indicators

CHALLENGES

Percentage of students by stream

22%

27%

52%

Mathematics & ScienceCommerceArts

Graduate Output by Major Field (2007-2011)

Percentage of A/L students by stream

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CHALLENGES

School leaving Students groups0

20000400006000080000

100000120000140000160000

Move to Higher Education

Move to Vocational & Tech Education

Move to Informal Employment

Annual School Leavers

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 20120

50010001500200025003000 Agriculture Forestry & Fishery

Manufacturing

Construction, Minning & Quarrying Electricity, Gas & Water supply

Wholesale & Retail Trade

Empl

oym

ent

(‘000

)

Source: Quarterly Labour Force Survey, Department of Census & Statistics

Agriculture sector recorded the highest employment. That was 2.2 million during the year 2012. The lowest, about 0.1 million employments was recorded in the Miscellaneous Labour Work category in 2012.

Employment by selected industr ia l groups

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CHALLENGES

0 to 10

10 to 20

20 to 30

30 to 40

40 to 50

50 to 60

60 to 70

70 to 80

80 to 90

90 to 100

-

2.00

4.00

6.00

8.00

10.00

12.00

CHALLENGES(7)

Patt ern in Achievement – English Grade 8 – 2012Dispersion of marks

Source : Nati onal Educati on Research and Eva luati on Centre (NEREC)Facu l ty of Educati on, Univers i ty of Colombo.

Introduction of Mandatory career guidance in schools.

Strengthening English Teaching and Trilingualism (Sinhala, Tamil and English) and Introducing assessments for listening and speaking skills.

Strengthening organizational linkages among the relevant Ministries (Education, Higher Education, Youth affairs, Skills Development, Labour, Productivity).

STRATEGIES – New Reforms(8)

1000 Schools are remodeled with new Technological Laboratories and Science, Mathematics, Commerce and Arts Subject Streams for A/L. These schools are evenly distributed through out the country.

New Technology Subject Streams were introduced to A/L Students with compulsory vocational training. Technical Laboratory Unit

(1000 Units)

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STRATEGIES – To improve equity

Secondary School

Primary Feeder Schools

Each D.S. Division gets 03 (restructured) secondary schools with laboratories and all subjects streams safeguarding equity in education.

Launching school based vocational counseling & training centers

STRATEGIES– School to Decent workVocational training to be mainstreamed in schools for skill development

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Decent work available for adolescent and youth through skill enhancement - Strengthen regulated & certified vocational training

• Linking secondary education, VET and higher education institutes and the world of work to promote seamless career paths via lateral entry.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• NVQ school learner acquire competencies by direct entry to industry - A network of

one-stop career centres is planned throughout the country to provide information on training, career guidance and employment related services.

STRATEGIES– School to Decent work(11)

Market-driven vocational training available at School LevelSTRATEGIES– School to Decent work

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Life Long Career

Development(SLQF)

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STRATEGIES – School to Decent work

25 New University Colleges are being constructed to offer NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) Levels 5,6 and 7 for school leavers with vocational training. NVQ Level 7 is B.Tec. Degree.

University for Vocational Technology

(UNIVOTEC) is already available.

• New technology stream for A/L students• NVQ (Level 2 & 3)) for ICT Students during O/L & A/L.• NVQ for School based Vocational Trainees

Included in A/L technology stream

STRATEGIES – Transformation (14)

Different levels of SLQF with some examples together with comparable levels of NVQF

SLQL = Sri Lanka Qualifications Framework Level NVQL= National Vocational Qualification Level

Source: University Grant Commission – Sri Lanka

• Sri Lanka Qualifications Framework (SLQF)

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1) Increasing the number of English Teachers in the system as necessary.

2) Continuous training of English Teachers.

3) Establishing a strong Provincial based English Master Teacher Units to facilitate

on the job training of English Teachers.

4) In O/L examination; providing 20% marks for English Listening and Speaking

Skills from 2015 to improve Speaking skills of students.

5) Developing 1000 language laboratories in 1000 secondary schools with relevant

software to facilitate in this teaching.

6) Developing 1000 distance learning laboratories in 1000 secondary schools to

facilitate distance learning in English.

7) “English as a life skill” programme launched by Presidential Task Force with

collaboration of Ministry of Education.

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STRATEGIES – Improvement of English Competency

Maintain focus on right to quality education linked to job market

Ensure an adequate resource pool for skills development in schools and technical colleges for initial steps towards school to decent work

Implementation of the newly formulated Human Resources and Employment Policy through allocation of financial and other resources, with

more efficient and effective coordination across implementing agencies

Continue assessment and required adjustments in training to meet national and international market demanded for skilled labour

Advocate for mindset change from traditional to market-oriented new skills requirement

Moving Forward…….(17)