THEN AND NOW CHANGING SCHOOLS

There used to be a time when an excellent system of Private Schools dotted the island from Point Pedro in the North to Devinuwara in the South. Every big city boasted both boys’ and girls’ Institutions that were every bit as well run and well maintained as their Colombo counterparts. The girl from Southlands in Galle was as well educated as the girl from Bishop’s. A boy from St Patrick’s in Jaffna could hold his own with  a Trinitian, a Thomian, or a Josephian. I refer to the schools built mainly by missionaries but which were catering very comfortably to the Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu minorities too. Eventually of course Private Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim schools sprang up alongside Government Schools and while there was obviously a little pushing for placement in these prestigious centers this desperate jostling of today was unheard of. The Take Over of Schools by the Government marked the end of an excellent school system that might have had colonial overtones as far as syllabuses went but which ran efficiently otherwise.

Syllabuses can be changed to suit the norms and mores of the country but how can ANY government deal with the monolithic structure the Department of Education has (until now) become? Now systems are taking the place of outworn methods of the past decades and one hopes the officers of the Dept. of Education are doing their best to cooperate with Dr. Harini Amarasuriya. Indeed all education was of a far looser structure in the 1950’s and I really do not understand why a system that worked well was so arbitrarily and drastically changed by well meaning previous Governments. Language changes could have been brought in without the messy overhaul that has characterised every new Government's attempts to streamline education. SWRD Bandaranaike’s “Sinhala in 24 hours” set Sri Lanka back 30 years. With the advent of ‘AI’ educational systems have no alternative but to revamp all over the world and certainly it is vital in Sri Lanka. Let me hark back to gentler times when changing schools was fairly common and very easy. A Principal sometimes recommended a change of schooling for a student for various reasons . My own mother (Principal of one school) would call up the Principal of another and request a transfer on psychological grounds if not academic ones. The requests were usually graciously granted while the parents themselves fell into line without a fuss. Indeed, Principals of the Big Schools 80 years ago had literally power of life or death over their pupils and they guarded this power very carefully. There was an all consuming trust all round. I give below two examples of a Principal not having the final word in spite of the influence they were used to exerting. During her time as Principal of Visakha (in the1930s to 1940’s ) Mother had a brilliant student who was double promoted once and was good enough to be double promoted again. Mother anticipated a fine academic career for Manel. But to mother’s disbelief Manel’s father  Mr. N, a famous King’s Counsel, withdrew Manel from school in Form 11(grade 7) saying Manel had had quite enough education FOR A GIRL. Mother’s outrage could hardly be put into words. When her pleas failed she stubbornly refused to surrender Manel’s birth certificate which must have been positively illegal at the time when duplication of certificates was not  easy. Nonetheless the withdrawal went through. The next example was when a young girl of 14 was withdrawn from school to be married. This virtual child marriage shocked Mother to the core. “Why would you do such a thing?” she asked Kanthi’s father. “Because I may not get such a good catch later,” he blandly replied.

Bandaranaike’s “Sinhala in 24 hours” set Sri Lanka back 30 years. With the advent of ‘AI’ educational systems have no alternative but to revamp all over the world and certainly it is vital in Sri Lanka.

Kanthi's father was a wealthy man himself but the marriage went through. Some months after the wedding Kanthi paid a visit to her old school, “How do you like being married,” one of her teachers asked. “I don’t mind it but all the people I meet are old.” Mother’s heart was wrung with pity. Kanthi was only fourteen and her husband thirty seven. My own schooling took me to 9 schools in three countries. Of course English was the Lingua Franca so Language was never an issue. My mother did not feel called upon to tap into my subconscious. She presumed she knew best. I presumed she knew best. My education flowed seamlessly along.

But now tragedy can be lurking in the background. A child is often stuck in a school which may be totally wrong for him/her. What alternatives are available? None at all in Sri Lanka where the area rule operates with no flexibility. Parents count themselves lucky if they get a school at all. A few years ago angry queues used to be seen outside Government schools around January comprising Year One parents who fulfilled the area rule but lack of space kept their children scrabbling for placement. Private Schools are more accommodating but every place is hotly contested. The demand far exceeds the supply of placement. International Schools have taken up some of the slack but not everyone can afford an International School. There are varying prices of such schools and, of course, varying standards of education also.

Let me take a moment here to answer those critics who complain that no one ‘Monitors’ the standards of these International Schools. There is an automatic monitor - namely those London Exams. If the schools have good results then the standards are being met. After all , the exam papers are being sent out from the UK and sent back to be corrected in the UK and the standards are the same for the Sri Lankan child as they are for the British child. So if parents want to have an idea as to the ‘Standards” of an International school in academics they only need to ask to see the results (which one hopes will be available to those who ask.) 

Ergo,, the International School child has a mobility which the Government School child lacks. International Schools have the freedom to try different British Exam Boards and experiment with all sorts of educational systems. At the moment they can opt for the Edexcel Board Exams, the Cambridge Board Exams and the IB (International Baccalaureate exams.) A few excellent Colombo Private Schools have always maintained world standards in SPITE of and not BECAUSE of their systems follow up.. They are blessed either with an excellent Alumni Associations or else with well endowed Trusts which enable them to maintain levels of excellence in the payment of good salaries and fine facilities.

We have been in crisis ever since I can remember reaching back to the time when Dr. W.H. Howes Director of Education in the 1950’s told my mother, then the Principal of Musaeus College Colombo, “We must hope this crisis will soon be resolved.” At least we are now trying.The present government is trying to improve matters. Involved as I have been in education for the last 60 years I applaud the attempt which had been overlong in coming. Criticism is easy. Application is not. Early mistakes are bound to be made and should be allowed to be rectified without too much of a fuss. I have recently been studying the various systems of education in different countries. In Japan for instance schooling is really HARD WORK. Kids actually clean their own school (toilets too.) Pupils are given only ONE chance to pass their finals and get into Universities. If they fail that one chance they have to look elsewhere for careers. Of course there are lucrative alternatives available. Those that do get into Japanese Universities find studies a breeze after their bone grinding school system. Emulating some of the Japanese ideas may not be a bad thing. Not all of course. I cannot quite visualise our kids cleaning bathrooms. Nonetheless taking what suits us from successful foreign systems can upgrade our national education This is a period of change for us all. Let us make the most of it.