Sri Lanka’s Education at a Crossroads: Combating Neoliberal Commodification and Colonial Dogmas

Education is a cornerstone of national development, shaping the cognitive, social, and economic futures of a country’s citizens. In Sri Lanka, however, the national education policy faces a critical crisis characterised by the unreflective adoption of foreign curricula, politicisation, and commodification of learning. Despite the country’s rich cultural heritage and diverse socio-ecological realities, education remains trapped within outdated colonial frameworks and market-driven agendas. This article critically examines the prevailing dogmas in Sri Lanka’s education system, arguing that these inherited models fail to address local needs and aspirations. By drawing on interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives, the article advocates for a fundamental reimagining of national education policy—one that privileges cultural relevance, ecological responsiveness, and emancipatory pedagogy to empower Sri Lankan youth and support sustainable national development.
Theoretical Framework
This article’s critique is grounded in an interdisciplinary framework combining postcolonial theory, critical pedagogy, educational ecology, and recent advances in decolonial education and ecopedagogy.
Foundational postcolonial theorists like Edward Said (1978) and Homi Bhabha (1994) highlight how colonial legacies persist in education through the uncritical adoption of Western curricula, a phenomenon Bhabha terms colonial mimicry—“almost the same, but not quite” (p. 86). Contemporary scholars such as Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2018) extend this by advocating for epistemic justice and valuing epistemologies of the South, calling for education that respects diverse, local knowledges rather than reproducing Western dominance.
Paulo Freire’s (1970) critical pedagogy critiques the “banking model” of education and promotes a problem-posing approach that fosters dialogue, critical consciousness, and learner agency. This aligns with modern calls for culturally sustaining pedagogies that affirm students’ cultural identities and promote meaningful engagement (Paris & Alim, 2017).
Urie Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory emphasises the importance of situating education within the nested social and cultural environments of learners. Recent work in ecopedagogy (Mellor, 2021) builds on this, linking education to social and environmental justice by recognising learners’ interconnectedness with their communities and nature.
Finally, critiques of neoliberalism in education (Ball, 2022; Giroux, 2020) highlight how market-driven policies commodify learning, undermine public education, and prioritise profit over holistic development, mirroring concerns raised about Sri Lanka’s education system.
Together, these theories and recent findings support the article’s call to reject superficial Western imitation, embrace dialogic and context-sensitive pedagogy, and ground education in Sri Lanka’s cultural and ecological realities.
Discussion
Although Sri Lanka’s national education policy faces numerous challenges, one of the most pressing issues is the uncritical adoption of “cut-and-paste” curricula from Western countries such as the USA, UK, and other dominant global education systems. These are often imposed as postcolonial dogmas without proper reflection or adaptation. There is a lack of critical engagement with whether such foreign models are suitable for our national context, specifically, in terms of who we are, what we do, and what we expect from our education system, given Sri Lanka’s unique cultural, ecological, and geographical realities.
Education in Sri Lanka has, for a long time, been reduced to a politicised marketplace rather than being recognised as a vital national human infrastructure. It has become a mafia-like business dominated by a small circle of educationists, fake professors, and politically connected figures within so-called educational administrations. Moreover, the formulation of national educational standards and policies—like those in other key sectors such as the economy, health, and politics—is driven not by the cognitive needs, aspirations, or interests of the people, but by the bureaucratic and political agendas of those in power.
State education has also been repeatedly undermined by the unchecked adoption of private, business-oriented models. For years, successive education ministries have opened the door to private, profit-driven institutions whose sole motive is financial gain, with little concern for national educational priorities. This shift has diverted attention away from using education as a tool to empower young people, enhance their productivity, and integrate their labour and intellect into the broader goals of national development.
Just like other socio-cultural sectors in Sri Lanka, education has long been shaped by narrow political interests, incoherent policy shifts, and personal agendas. For years, it has suffered under political interference rather than being guided by national priorities and the real needs of our youth. In this context, the key question we must ask is: What should our national educational priority be? Do we continue to rely on “cut-and-paste” curricula borrowed from other countries, or do we critically reflect on how to adapt and integrate the best global education policies in a way that aligns with our local and national needs?
In recent decades, materialistic, capital market-driven political agendas have been prioritised. Corrupt, feudal-elite interests and private, profit-oriented education models have had a devastating impact on Sri Lanka’s national education policy and practice. Furthermore, we must question whether we truly have visionary educationists in this country or simply imitators posing as experts. Why is there so little effort to think nationally and locally, and instead such an obsession with the fantasy and glamour of global, white, Western models? Why can’t we appreciate, nurture, and value our own mentalities, cultures, educational needs, and modes of knowledge absorption within a locally grounded national education system?
This is a fundamental challenge we must urgently address. 
Another important observation is that education in Sri Lanka has often become a form of petty political exhibitionism—a fraudulent, decorative performance designed merely to impress others with fake feudal pride and flamboyance. Like many other sectors—health, economy, and politics—education too is often performed as development, rather than being genuinely developed. We continue to showcase surface-level progress without deeply understanding or internalising what we truly need, who we are, and how our systems should function based on our national priorities, regional cultures, and local values. A key issue remains our inability to break away from colonial thinking. Our romanticisation of Western—and at times even Eastern—educational models and curricula suggests a deep-rooted inferiority complex. This mindset causes us to undervalue and degrade our own intellectual wealth, educational potential, and cultural-economic realities.
Instead of mimicking others, we must evolve toward building a more modern, locally rooted, and productive educational system—one that reflects the lived realities, aspirations, and capacities of today’s Sri Lankan people. One of the most significant concerns in our education system—like in many other areas—is the evaluation process, which is largely based on outdated, Western-imported models. These frameworks often ignore how students actually perform in real-world environments. Rather than fostering practical, lateral, and creative learning, we continue to rely on rigid and irrelevant methods that fail to reflect how young people learn, adapt, and grow.
We must begin to think beyond conventional models. Evaluation, teaching, and content delivery should become more ecologically responsive, aligned with the lived realities of both teachers and students. Real-life situations—such as family dynamics, work environments, or conversations on a bus—can serve as legitimate educational experiences. In contrast, the traditional four-walled, colonial-style classroom often restricts imagination, emotional growth, and genuine engagement. For far too long, the classroom has functioned like a confined magazine—a mental and cognitive trap for both students and teachers. The teaching-learning process has been blocked by irrational, emotionally detached, and rigid pedagogical norms. These limitations prevent teachers and learners from exercising private reflection, emotional perception, or creative freedom. As a result, the system suppresses imagination, lateral thinking, and innovation. Instead, education has become commodified—reduced to a transactional process in which both teachers and students are treated as products within a dysfunctional market. Certification has replaced learning, and exploitation has replaced empowerment. This has led to widespread abuse of both educators and learners, driven by political corruption and commercial greed. From early childhood to state universities, education in Sri Lanka suffers from a deep institutional and environmental failure. It has lost its sense of ethical grounding, ecological relevance, and creative purpose. We are now witnessing the unfolding drama and politics of Sri Lankan state education—an education system that urgently requires reform grounded in ecology, ethics, imagination, and justice.
Conclusion
Sri Lanka’s education system stands at a crossroads, burdened by colonial legacies, political interference, and neoliberal market forces that undermine its transformative potential. The uncritical replication of Western curricula, rigid evaluation systems, and the commodification of teaching and learning have created an education landscape disconnected from the lived realities and cultural identities of its students. This article argues for an urgent shift toward a nationally grounded, dialogic, and ecologically informed education policy that centres the voices and needs of Sri Lankan learners. By embracing postcolonial critique, critical pedagogy, and ecological thinking, Sri Lanka can build an education system that not only reflects its unique socio-cultural fabric but also equips its youth to contribute meaningfully to the country’s future. Such a paradigm shift is essential for overcoming the current crisis and realising the full promise of education as a driver of equity, creativity, and sustainable development.
The writer holds a PHD in Digital Critical Media Studies (Newcastle, UK), Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Kelaniya