Sri Lankan Education System Needs an Overhaul

Education is a basic need for a human being.  The right to education is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We get education until we die. Humans are the only creatures in the world who have the capability to pass their collective knowledge in to the next generation. New knowledge piles up from generation to generation making humans capable of mastering their atmosphere and become the most successful creature in the world. There are two kinds of education systems; formal education we get from educational institutions and informal education. When we look at the formal education system in Sri Lanka, a need to change the system arises.

Formal education is Sri Lanka started with the introduction of Buddhism. Mahaviharaya in Anuradhapura which was controlled by Buddhist monks was the main knowledge hub. Only Buddhist philosophy was discussed at first. Writing was not popular at that time so knowledge goes from teacher to student orally. Sinhalese literature was in its golden age in ‘Kotte’ kingdom. Even our Kings were scholars who were fluent in many languages. When Sri Lanka, came under British rule, old education system had changed. Buddhist temple centered education was replaced by missionary schools.

Later, with the efforts of Colonel Olcott to introduce Buddhist schools and C.W.W Kannangara’s free education, a student is getting education from government schools freely. Because of the education system, Literacy rate of our country is 93% and we have universal literacy rate among young people. Every child is getting a school and sometimes scholarships for education.

Sri Lankan education system although seems to be fine for an outside eye is actually plagued with problems.

Our education system is not up to date. The world is changing and new knowledge is piling up but the content we learn is very old and outdated. New subjects are left out. This situation is mostly present in technical education in which the things which we learn will be obsolete in a couple of year’s time. Knowledge delivery methods are very old. Teacher-oriented learning is still practiced while in education systems in developed counties are already in more dynamic student-oriented system. Our children are still being spoon fed by teachers. That was even present in our university system as well. The disadvantage of the above approach will become apparent to students when they go abroad to read for a foreign degree or when they try to read for a post graduate degree.

From the moment a child is entered to the grade one, parents and teachers are pushing the child only to be excelled in academic achievements. Sports, aesthetic and extra-curricular activities are virtually being thrown out of a child’s time table thus hindering the personality development of the child. Our children’s creativity is much low compared to children in other countries. Endurance (both physical and mental) is nil. Children are getting depressed and committing suicide more often. All because of the imbalanced personality created by our education system.

Fierce Competition for popular schools is a controversial point. It is true that many schools don’t have even the basic resources. Government needs lot of money (of which the government is always running short) to develop schools. Even all the schools get equal resources, people still try to send their children to popular schools in Colombo and other major cities for their prestige and for better opportunities their child will get for being a student in those schools, for instance getting a high-paid job or securing a good marriage proposal. 

 Restructuring the education system is one of the most challenging tasks that lie ahead. We should focus on an education system for the future needs.Changing education system from teacher-centered to child-centered is needed. Child should be given room to discover the existing knowledge and create new ideas from it while teacher should be playing a supportive role.

Sports, aesthetic and extracurricular activities need to get introduced as part of the education process. A rapid update of the content of textbooks is also needed. New technologies and foreign language education should be considered of utmost importance.  This will all become in vain if the resources both physical and human is not developed in schools so infrastructure development is also needed.

Policy makers need to understand the fact that the money spending on education is not a waste but is an investment for the future. Increasing the percentage allocated for education of the GDP is not merely enough. Quality of education should also be increased. Children are our future. Without them getting a good education to take up the future challenges, all of our present work will be rendered useless so it is everyone’s duty is to revive our education system from the sinkhole in which it is buried.  

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Bringing Up a Mathematical Child

(Photo courtesy : http://plus.maths.org )

Mathematics is always a fascinating subject to me. I liked it a lot since my early childhood but sad thing was I was not good at it. It is like a desire which cannot be fulfilled at any cost. In my primary can secondary education, I got through mathematics subject in flying colors only due to my dedication and hard work. After reaching my advanced level education in school, I have chosen mathematics subjects. The real nightmare came at this point. I was lost in that vast world of higher mathematics. Advanced level examination is the hardest exam for anyone in Sri Lanka and mathematics stream is far the hardest of the four streams; Math, Bio, Arts and Commerce. It was like putting to sea without knowing how to swim. I was shattered, broken and sank in to despair in a downward spiral.

Years have passed, but my life was not better at all. I couldn't reach my goals even I tried my best. I’ve changed paths frequently without success nothing was able to explain me what had happened to me in Advanced level Math education. . It took a long time to establish myself in another educational stream and open the door to tertiary education.

 Finally I realized what was wrong with me at that time. I couldn't bridge the gap between secondary education mathematics which I've learnt up to grade 11 and Advanced Level mathematics. Since there is a great difference in the content of these two studies, unprepared student can’t survive in it.

It is a well known fact that not everyone can be a Math genius. Even in primary classes we can see students who can understand mathematics clearly and students who can’t. The latter has difficulty in understanding how numbers and pattern form, how they behave overtime and how can we use them. That is why most of the students complain about mathematics learning difficulty. In some cases like mine, students tend to learn mathematics my explicitly memorizing (cramming) concepts. This method will work until some level but for advanced mathematics which we learn in Advanced Level classes, this can’t be applied. To learn and understand mathematics, a person needs a math trained brain. 

Mathematics can be learnt only through understanding the concepts and making them a part of brain. When a child is born, his mind is tuned to work in a pre-programmed way. That means the child contains special skills and interests in a particular field. For example, some children are clever in mathematics, some are music, some don’t have special tendency for anything. This phenomenon created people with different skills and competencies. Future mathematicians and musicians are created in this way. It is good to keep the balance of people’s skills but real problem here is mathematics knowledge is required in every aspect of life. This included analytical skills, problem solving skills as well. In order to secure a job, a person must have a sound mathematical knowledge. In another words, it is not wrong to say that this new competitive world is only for math geniuses, not for anyone else.

So every newborn child need to be transformed in to a math genius in the future. This poses a tremendous challenge to parents and adults because not every child’s brain is hardwired to mathematics. The good news is the mind of a child is like a piece of clay. We can mold and shape that in to anyway we like. In other words we can create a mathematician or a musician out of our child by gradually programming his mind.

Mind programming is a delicate task. This should be done carefully. Shaping the mind should begin as early as possible. Most of the time, we ignore the need to exercise and stimulate a child’s mind. In animal kingdom, learning skills to walk, to hunt, to feed begins as early as possible. Most of the knowledge comes to animals from playing with their peers. Humans also should stress on giving mathematical and problem solving skills in a game form to children. Almost all of the children are keen to learn and explore. They don’t know the fear and shame of failure. It is a well known fact that the creativity of a child hinders when he/she gets old. Unfortunately, today what humans need most is creativity. A program is needed to extract children’s hidden creativity.

Games may hold key to children’s mind training. Surprisingly parents are ignoring the need of quality toys and games for their children. Lego Blocks are a good tool because it enhances the creativity. Mathematical games are also available. Teaching mathematics need to start from kindergarten. Our mind is similar to any other muscle in our body. It only strengthens and grows when we exercise it. School curriculum also need to change giving more and more weight to mathematics and science.

Certainly we can’t be satisfied with the present generation’s creative ability and knowledge of mathematics. As the engine to power up human civilization lies on mathematical minds, powering up the future generation is needed desperately. That shall be our duty today. Are we ready for that? 

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