Tertiary education as with every other sector should have its policy spelt out within this White Paper on education
A new scheme of subjects introduced then as Pre-vocational studies also came with the same argument of preparing students for future employment
The first Minister of Education in this country to announce curriculum reforms on facebook is Akila Viraj Kariyawasam of this Yahapalana Government. The change of curriculum and a change in secondary education now lined up, was reported at random in the media as a directive given by Minister Kariyawasam to the Education Ministry. It is called the 13 Years Certified Education Programme.
A website reported on 14 September, this would allow those students, who fail to qualify for GCE A/L to continue studies in the A/L classes.
Minister Kariyawasam had told media that around 250,000 to 300,000 students sit for the GCE O/L exam annually and around 60 per cent of them lose the opportunity to 
continue with their education as they fail to qualify for A/L classes as required now.
He has thus directed the Education Ministry to begin implementation of this programme as a pilot project from October (2017).
Megapolis Development for greater Colombo (20 months delay for now) gets into a screeching start, these anticipated first batch of 4,400 plus A/L skilled workers with a NVQ-4 certificate will not be required in big numbers
The pilot scheme will have 42 National Schools covering all Districts. They would have 134 special classrooms including 27 Smart Classrooms and another 27 Multi-task classrooms.
The programme would include around 4,400 students who failed to qualify for A/L classes. It will be implemented islandwide from 2019. The allocation for the project is reported as Rs.05 billion.
Kariyawasam’s Facebook post says introduction of new subjects would be for the 02 years in the G.C.E A/L classes termed A/L Vocational Studies stream.
Reform Programme is smuggled through ministerial directives without any public awareness and discourse
There are two lists of new subjects introduced for these students. The first list with nine subjects for the first six months is compulsory for all who enter the new A/L stream, beginning next month.
Called the Common Subjects List, it includes the subjects First Language, Practical English and Communication Skills Development, Skills related to Aesthetics, IT Skills, Skills for Citizenry (whatever that means), Health and Livelihood skills for social wellbeing (??), Entrepreneurial skills, Activities in relation to sports and other subjects (???) and Career Guidance programme.
The next list is called Practical Subjects and has 26 subjects that include, Child Psychology and Care, Event Management, Arts and Crafts, Interior Designing, Fashion Designing, Art and Designing, Landscaping, Livestock Product Studies, Construction Studies, Automobile Studies, Textile and Apparel Studies, Metal Fabrication Studies, Aluminium Fabrication Studies and other similar subjects. It is said, students can choose one from this list for the next 18 months in the A/L class and they will have to sit for a new examination for the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) – Level 4 Certificate.
This whole Secondary Education Reform Programme is smuggled through ministerial directives without any public awareness and discourse, while it raises a few serious questions and concerns.
Tertiary education at present is a neglected subject area with no policy and no focus. There are a few colleges, authorities and institutes for tertiary education with no common purpose
Most would raise the issue of resources to teach these subjects in schools. Added are issues like what the syllabuses are and what subject content they would have. All valid concerns that prove this Government is not serious about education. This list sounds very much like the subjects that were available for students from Grades VI to IX under the New Education System introduced in 1972.
A new scheme of subjects introduced then as Pre-vocational studies also came with the same argument of preparing students for future employment.
It was then said with pre-vocational studies, students leaving school would have employment opportunities in their own local areas. But none of the subjects chosen with emphasis on local raw materials ever had teachers in schools to teach them. Nor were syllabuses and handbooks available.
Principals were asked to prepare syllabuses. And they never provided employment as argued.
The 1972 New Education System was thus the worst educational reforms ever introduced since Independence.
That said, there are more serious issues with this present set of proposals.The very purpose of formal education in schools has been wholly ignored with this “Akila Viraj Proposal”.
Thirteen (13) years organised from primary to secondary school education is to produce youth with capacity to acquire new knowledge and rational thinking. Formal education should provide children with information, knowledge on what’s around them, basic science, maths and environment and the ability to think globally, logically and rationally as secular persons.
They should be “educated” to use information and data rationally and encouraged to arrive at their own logical conclusions. With no teacher training to improve tutorial staff that can teach and guide students in an intellectual environment, education is already deformed, derailed and devalued.
Today it is a ‘rat race’ geared to “certificates”.
Thus today it is not about “teaching children”, to understand the world around and beyond, but about “coaching children” to answer question papers and qualify for the next open competitive exam.
That provides the major reason for a flourishing private tuition industry.
These callously tinkered “reforms” of Minister Kariyawasam do not in any way come close to what is presently required as “educational reforms”. Given the condition the ministry would eventually find some teachers for these practical subjects, they would only turn out “artisans” for peripheral employment in urban areas. Some skills like “Event Management”, “Interior designing”, “Landscaping”, “Aluminium fabrication” will have no employment opportunities for a living, outside greater Colombo.
The fact is, these are all small-scale employment opportunities in small numbers in this strictly urban-based neo-liberal economy. During the past 40 years, the free market economy has only accumulated income and wealth in Colombo and its suburbs and left out rural life. All the foreign earnings of Mid East housemaids, the FTZ workers who manufacture for exports and from labour in the plantations are accrued and spent in Colombo. Roads getting jammed the whole day with brand new vehicles burns up all that money.
Thus the “Western Province” Megapolis Development for greater Colombo (20 months delay for now) gets into a screeching start, these anticipated first batch of 4,400 plus A/L skilled workers with a NVQ-4 certificate will not be required in big numbers.
Most such employment will be for the Chinese and Indian labour.
There is a total lack of intellect in educational reforms in post Kannangara Sri Lanka. First is the fact that education reforms are not discussed in terms of this free-market economy.
Not discussed in terms of development this country needs. The necessity to develop a very vibrant and modern “Tertiary education” sector has also never been addressed. What is being proposed as A/L Vocational Studies stream is what has to be designed within the “Tertiary” education system and not within formal school education.
Tertiary education at present is a neglected subject area with no policy and no focus. There are a few colleges, authorities and institutes for tertiary education with no common purpose. With the oldest Technical College in Maradana begun in 1893, there are 34 such ‘technical colleges’ and ‘colleges of technology’ in all districts. Their quality of training and relevance of courses available leave much to be desired.
The old National Apprentice Board established in 1971 that was turned into “National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority” (NAITA) in 1993 has not changed course to suit modern society and its needs. Its mission remains “providing vocational and technical training for youth, to acquire employable skills”. Another is the Vocational Training Authority (VTA) that Mahinda Rajapaksa established in 1995 as Minister of Labour and Vocational Training. That too says, its mission is “To facilitate the fulfilment of the global skilled employment demand by developing competencies in individuals” by providing a NVQ-4 level quality training.
There is also the National Institute of Business Management (NIBM) that offers courses upto degree level and the Open University of SL (OUSL).Sadly the OUSL had over the years been turned inside out by its academics and administration. It is far from the originally conceptualised “Open University” by President Jayewardene in 1980.
It was to provide adults in employment the opportunity for higher education and in developing a career path for them. Most courses designed were also related to different employments and vocations. This focus is now almost lost with the OUSL accommodating large numbers of A/L qualified youth who dominate the OUSL, functioning as full-time students.
What is needed now is not reforms that turn schools into VT Vidyalayas.
What is needed is a “White Paper on Education” for far-reaching reforms that would accept devolution of powers to the provinces. Reforms that would accordingly include everything from pre-school to secondary education, from tertiary to university education and clear structuring of school administration right down to zones and circuits keeping a manageable ceiling on the number of pupils (1,000 maximum) in a school. They should also have proposals to improve modern training of teachers with mandatory further training while in service.
Tertiary education, as with every other sector, should have its policy spelt out within this White Paper on education.
That should be in the public domain for discussions and dialogue within trade unions, professional associations, parent bodies and educationists. If Minister Kariyawasam is serious about reforms in education, he should transfer his A/L Vocational Studies project in schools to the OUSL/VTA without turning young students into guinea pigs for political experiments.
He should instead start working on a draft “White Paper on Education” with competent people of repute. And those who waste their time and energy inconveniencing the whole society demanding abolishing of SAITM to save “free education” they do not even understand, should instead focus on serious all-round reforms to ensure saving and reforming education for future generations.
