Sri Lanka has spent almost one-and-a-half years dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, and it is during this period that Sri Lanka had to become familiar with concepts such as working from home and online education. However, embracing these concepts sometimes requires the Government’s support, and the online education system, especially, seems to be making very little progress when compared with the time the Government first started promoting it.
What promoting the online education system means is supporting it, financing it, and raising awareness about it. However, all these three aspects have not reached rural areas, thereby leaving schoolchildren unable to continue their studies. According to the Ceylon Teachers’ Union, around 60% of school students do not have access to online education systems. However, Education Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris is of the understanding that it is only 12%. The difference between these two figures is huge and begs the question as to whether there has been any research whatsoever done about those children.
There is no debate about the fact that as far as continuing school education during the pandemic is concerned, replacing the traditional classroom education system with distant education systems was the only option. However, how ready Sri Lanka was to adopt this method is questionable. Schoolchildren’s grievance that their education has been disrupted despite the Government’s attempts to promote the online education system is proof that not only was Sri Lanka not ready a year and half ago, but also that the country is still not ready.
Sri Lanka not having adequate resources, especially monetary resources, has become the default excuse in many cases, and with regard to the lack of resources to make the online education system easier and more accessible, the same reason is cited by some. However, resources necessary to make a plan work is not always money, and Sri Lanka’s management of monetary resources has been criticised in the past few months, especially in a context where the country is facing a scarcity of foreign reserves.
During the past year, Sri Lanka had to spend an astronomical amount of money for Covid-19 management efforts, and if asked, many Sri Lankans would say that health was the main domestic expenditure the Government had to bear last year. However, with regard to allocating money, the Government’s beliefs of what is more important directly affects their understanding of what requires more money, which in turn determines how much money is allocated through the Budget. Essentially, it has a great deal to do with what is considered a priority.
The low importance assigned to the country’s education sector was reflected in the Appropriation Bill for the year 2021, which allocated Rs. 126 billion for the Education Ministry. The highest Budget allocations were for the Ministries of Defence (Rs. 355 billion), Highways (Rs. 330 billion), and Provincial Councils (Rs. 271 billion). It is disheartening to see how the country’s education receives less priority in a context where Sri Lanka is not fighting an armed war and highways are not an urgent need. Despite the fact that the country is going through a deadly pandemic, the Health Ministry was allocated only Rs. 159 billion.
As said before, resources necessary to make a plan work is not always money. However, the bigger question is, does Sri Lanka even have a proper plan to make the online education system a reality? If Sri Lanka had a plan, by now, the issue of schoolchildren not being able to study from home would have been resolved to a certain extent, or at the very least, studied properly. Perhaps that is what the discrepancy between the figures stated by the Teachers’ Union and the Education Minister suggests.
On the other hand, how can a plan be devised without a baseline study – which, in this case, is finding out how many are in need of assistance to study online – being conducted first? Had that sort of study been conducted, the people would have been able to access “official figures”, which would have prevented conflicting statistics.
Further, what the Government is expecting to do in this connection in the future does not, however, constitute a plan; they are promises, too many of which have disappointed Sri Lankans. It appears as though the Government has learned little in the more than one year of experience it has had with the pandemic in Sri Lanka, and failed to lay the groundwork and facilities for a half decent delivery of education online in an inclusive manner, without merely targeting the students in urban areas and popular schools. Due to the lack of planning and focus by the authorities, many of the students in Sri Lanka are unable to learn.Children can’t learn when authorities don’t learn
24 Jun 2021
Children can’t learn when authorities don’t learn
24 Jun 2021
Sri Lanka has spent almost one-and-a-half years dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, and it is during this period that Sri Lanka had to become familiar with concepts such as working from home and online education. However, embracing these concepts sometimes requires the Government’s support, and the online education system, especially, seems to be making very little progress when compared with the time the Government first started promoting it.
What promoting the online education system means is supporting it, financing it, and raising awareness about it. However, all these three aspects have not reached rural areas, thereby leaving schoolchildren unable to continue their studies. According to the Ceylon Teachers’ Union, around 60% of school students do not have access to online education systems. However, Education Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris is of the understanding that it is only 12%. The difference between these two figures is huge and begs the question as to whether there has been any research whatsoever done about those children.
There is no debate about the fact that as far as continuing school education during the pandemic is concerned, replacing the traditional classroom education system with distant education systems was the only option. However, how ready Sri Lanka was to adopt this method is questionable. Schoolchildren’s grievance that their education has been disrupted despite the Government’s attempts to promote the online education system is proof that not only was Sri Lanka not ready a year and half ago, but also that the country is still not ready.
Sri Lanka not having adequate resources, especially monetary resources, has become the default excuse in many cases, and with regard to the lack of resources to make the online education system easier and more accessible, the same reason is cited by some. However, resources necessary to make a plan work is not always money, and Sri Lanka’s management of monetary resources has been criticised in the past few months, especially in a context where the country is facing a scarcity of foreign reserves.
During the past year, Sri Lanka had to spend an astronomical amount of money for Covid-19 management efforts, and if asked, many Sri Lankans would say that health was the main domestic expenditure the Government had to bear last year. However, with regard to allocating money, the Government’s beliefs of what is more important directly affects their understanding of what requires more money, which in turn determines how much money is allocated through the Budget. Essentially, it has a great deal to do with what is considered a priority.
The low importance assigned to the country’s education sector was reflected in the Appropriation Bill for the year 2021, which allocated Rs. 126 billion for the Education Ministry. The highest Budget allocations were for the Ministries of Defence (Rs. 355 billion), Highways (Rs. 330 billion), and Provincial Councils (Rs. 271 billion). It is disheartening to see how the country’s education receives less priority in a context where Sri Lanka is not fighting an armed war and highways are not an urgent need. Despite the fact that the country is going through a deadly pandemic, the Health Ministry was allocated only Rs. 159 billion.
As said before, resources necessary to make a plan work is not always money. However, the bigger question is, does Sri Lanka even have a proper plan to make the online education system a reality? If Sri Lanka had a plan, by now, the issue of schoolchildren not being able to study from home would have been resolved to a certain extent, or at the very least, studied properly. Perhaps that is what the discrepancy between the figures stated by the Teachers’ Union and the Education Minister suggests.
On the other hand, how can a plan be devised without a baseline study – which, in this case, is finding out how many are in need of assistance to study online – being conducted first? Had that sort of study been conducted, the people would have been able to access “official figures”, which would have prevented conflicting statistics.
Further, what the Government is expecting to do in this connection in the future does not, however, constitute a plan; they are promises, too many of which have disappointed Sri Lankans. It appears as though the Government has learned little in the more than one year of experience it has had with the pandemic in Sri Lanka, and failed to lay the groundwork and facilities for a half decent delivery of education online in an inclusive manner, without merely targeting the students in urban areas and popular schools. Due to the lack of planning and focus by the authorities, many of the students in Sri Lanka are unable to learn.Kapruka
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Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!