Paper 5 – Education and Human Development

Swama Jayaweera

Abstract

Human development has many dimensions and education has a crucial role to play in promoting it as a critical agent in developing and empowering human capabilities including personality attributes and values, and in the transformation of society. Regrettably the compartmentalisation of these many dimensions such as social development, human resources development and economic development has prevented the realisation of the goals of human development. It is in this context in Sri Lanka that this paper has examined the role of education in the promotion of equity and excellence and facets such as integrated personality development, ethical behaviour, social equity and national harmony. It has discussed also the conditions that are conducive to human development, chiefly the efficiency of the education system and the support received from the external environment.

The Context

Human development is a holistic paradigm of transformational change that encompasses economic, political and socio-cultural development as well as the physical, cognitive, and psycho-social and moral development of an individual. The centrality of education in a human development framework is exemplified in its potential contribution to major aspects of human development such as

(i) promoting human capabilities, for instance, knowledge, skills, behaviour,

health and economic participation,

(ii) enlarging people's choices and providing equal opportunities for use of their capabilities, and

(iii) empowering them to participate in and benefit from the total development process.

Progress towards human development has been stymied by the dichotomisation of its different aspects such as economic and social development, both conceptually and in practice. For instance, in the second half of the twentieth century, despite the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Eurocentric modernisation theories (Inkles et al, 1974), human capital theory that concentrate on human beings as inputs in production and evaluates education exclusively in economic teams (Schultz, 1963; Denison, 1967), and the Basic Needs approach that focuses on the delivery of services to deprived human beings, fragmented and compartmentalised development and thereby negated the full realisation of human potential. The concept of 'Education for All' in 1990 and the Millennium Development Goal of universalising primary education and reducing adult illiteracy reinforces the contours of the Basic Needs approach. In the environment in which education functions, structural adjustment programmes have disadvantaged poor segments of the population and Poverty Alleviation Programmes "add an" components that are ineffective as a consequence of the failure to incorporate the concerns of the poor in an integrated human development framework. Inevitably, as pointed out by social reproduction theorists, inequalities are reinforced and legitimised by education and the overall development process (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1977). The concept of human development has gained some credence, however with UNDP's initiative in producing Annual Human Development Reports that seek to promote an integrated perspective.

In the Sri Lankan context of inequalities in education created partly by colonial policies, a holistic human development perspective was reflected in the educational reforms formulated in the transitional years to political independence in the 1940s (SP.XXIV of 1943). Education was perceived as a fundamental right in a democratic society and an agent of social equity and upward socio-economic mobility, national integration character building and economic development. Policy makers went beyond the basic needs approach of international agencies in the 1970s when they introduced free, primary, secondary and tertiary (including university) education in 1945. This policy and concomitant policies of free health services and subsidised food provided the momentum for a rapid expansion of educational opportunities in the 1950s and 1960s and the reduction in socio-economic inequalities and the promotion of gender equality in access to general education

(Jayaweera, 1998).

While the commitment to free education survived the social class dimensions of efforts till the 1990s to introduce selective secondary education, educational opportunity became a non issue with the influence of human capital theory and the misperception that mismatch in education was the sole cause of the high incidence of unemployment since the late 1960s, and the reduction in social sector expenditure as a strategy in structural adjustment programme. The human development perspective was eroded further with divisive education policies that exacerbated ethnic tensions and threatened social disintegration, and the examination dominated and bureaucratic, uniform curriculum development that jettisoned the promotion of human values and integrated personality development.

In the 1950s, the UN Convention on the Right of the Child and the 'Education for All' initiatives brought educational opportunity back within the policy framework. The social unrest and violence in the South and the ethnic conflict in the North since the 1980s resulted in a re-examination of educational policy and practice by the Youth Commission (SP 1 of 1990) and the National Education Commission (NEC)(SP V of 1992) and the introduction of education reforms in 1997. The NEC revisited the education scenario during the last two years and its proposals for the continuation and extension of education reforms presented in the document "Envisioning Education for Human Development" for consideration envisages a holistic process of change (NEC, 2003). It is in the context of these proposed 'reforms' and my own reflections over the years that I shall endeavour to discuss the opportunities and challenges that need to be addressed to realise the goal of human development amidst the complexities and needs that are signposts to change in contemporary Sri Lanka. The premises on which these discussions are grounded are that education is a human right and that the education system has the potential to function as a "change agent" in the interests of all individuals, irrespective of social class, ethnic, gender and cultural differences and of the whole society. Opportunities and challenges will be explored from the inter-related perspectives of equity, excellence and relevance which are the hallmarks of an education system that seeks to promote human development.

Equity and Excellence

Despite the provision of free education facilities over six decades, Sri Lanka has not been able to achieve universal primary education as required by the Millennium Development Goals. Compulsory education regulations for the 5 – 14 years group were introduced in 1998 but lethargy in their enforcement has resulted in non schooling and early school leaving by many children in disadvantaged families. The issue of the right to education of every child appears to have received relatively low priority judging by the haste to close small schools that are perceived to be 'uneconomical units" regardless of the needs of economically deprived or remote communities, thereby reinforcing the social exclusion of vulnerable population groups. Current age specific participation rates cannot be computed in the absence of the relevant 2001 census statistics but the Ministry of Education claims male and female retention rates of 96.9% and 98.3% at the end of primary education (Grade 5) and 79.1% and 86.3% at the end of junior secondary education (Grade 9) in 2001 (Table 1). Gender equality has been achieved but universal literacy is still a goal even among younger age groups (Tables 2 and 3). Non schooling and 'dropping out' of school are found chiefly in low income urban neighbourhoods (despite the availability of schools in the vicinity), remote and/or disadvantaged villages, plantations with their legacy of educational disadvantage and conflict affected areas.

Further, around 50% of the 15 - 19 age group are not enrolled in schools. Sri Lankan poverty studies (e g. Jayaweera, Sanmugam and Amarasuriya, 2003) have indicated that the high incidence of dropping out before the GCE (O/L) in low income communities has disadvantaged women and men from accessing stable employment, confined them to the low income informal sector and perpetuated poverty. The challenge, therefore is to make a frontal attack on non enrolment in schools and to support students in resourceless families to complete their GCE (O/L) or have access to employment skills through vocational education institutions so that they can engage in employment that enables them to exit poverty.

It is necessary, therefore to enforce the existing compulsory education regulations purposefully, to continue the existing ancillary services of free textbooks and uniforms, subsidised transport and island wide scholarships, and to extend the new scheme of free school meals in primary schools in economically disadvantaged communities. It is appropriate also to extend compulsory education regulations to 16 years to ensure to all an education that provides the knowledge base and skills to improve the quality of life of individuals and their families. In this task of extending educational opportunity, it is imperative that attention be focused with commitment on vulnerable groups such as children with disability, working children, destitute and'street' children, and those confined to 'Correction' Homes. Non formal literacy centres have been organised in ad hoc fashion for two decades and their progress has been chequered by shifting policy priorities. These centres need to be restructured as transitional centres for out of school children of primary school age and as community based learning centres for older children who need a second chance of educational opportunity.

Macro level statistics are deceptive as they conceal wide socio economic and regional disparities in the provision and utilisation of education facilities. While socio economic disparities declined as a consequence of the incentives that have been provided, regional disparities received little attention after the establishment of Central Schools in rural locations in the 1940s as avenues to educational opportunity and socio economic mobility. In the 1970s equity was sought to be achieved by the imposition of district quotas for admission to universities without commensurate efforts to reduce inequalities in the provision and quality of school facilities, thereby perpetuating inter district disparities, increasing intra district disparities in education and exacerbating ethnic tensions.

The distribution of education opportunities therefore has continued to be inequitable over the decades. Only 6% of the island's approximately 10,000 schools offer senior secondary education facilities in science curricula (Table 4) while 47.7% of the schools have less than 200 students (Table 5) and have been marginalised as small schools sans adequate qualified teachers or facilities. Some of these small schools have been closed partly as a result of neglect and consequent attrition of school enrolment. A major task is to provide all schools with at least the minimum facilities that are necessary to provide an adequate education to which all children are entitled. For far too long has there been a congruence of poor socio economic background of students, sub standard school facilities and low level of performance of students. District wise disparities in educational performance are wide, as for instance, between Colombo and Moneragala districts.

Equity and Excellence are not mutually exclusive. In fact, both are necessary to fulfill the aspirations of people and to enhance the quality of education and ensure human development. For this purpose the Central School model of the 1940s that was abandoned in the 1960s needs to be introduced in each administrative divisions. Efforts have been made in this respect since the early 1990s under the Divisional Schools Development Project but the politicised and inappropriate selection of schools without potential for immediate development has resulted in the travesty of the concept of 'Centres of Excellence' (Kularatne,2003). What is necessary is to identify at least one or more schools in each Division that can be developed without delay as 'Provincial Centres of Excellence' in the first phase of reform, to be followed every two years by the selection of schools from each Division to be developed to provide a quality education. The benefits of such a policy would be to make quality education available equitably island wide and to reduce the pressure from parents to admit students to large popular schools which currently satisfy their aspirations. The result of the concentration of facilities in a limited number of large urban schools has been their unbridled expansion to between 4000 and 8000 students in a single unwieldy school and the deterioration of standards in both large and small schools. A limited number of such large schools could function as All Island Schools. The challenge is to develop a mechanism that will ensure the use of strict selection criteria for the identification of schools, without succumbing to extraneous political pressures.
The demand for English education in a country in which English is a 'badge of social distinction' and an avenue to remunerative high level employment appears to be a facet of the quest for equity. While the mother tongue remains the language of instruction in the primary school, revitalised programmes in 'English for Communication' in primary grades in all schools is likely to redress the balance between the 'English educated' and those educated in the national languages. A corollary would be to promote bilingualism in junior secondary schools, teaching selected subjects such as mathematics, science and information technology in English, with jettisoning the national languages in the education system. If opportunities are provided for such bilingualism equitably at divisional level, the options of students could be widened at the senior secondary level and access facilitated universally to the ever expanding world of knowledge, ideas and skills.
