Singapore introduced changes to its assessment policy in 2019, lightening the load for school children. https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/press-releases/-learn-for-life—preparing-our-students-to-excel-beyond-exam-results; https://sg.
Education Forum Sri Lanka begins a series of Policy Dialogues in March – 7 & 21 at the Kingsbury Hotel. These forums aim to discuss and collate ideas using experience from local & global Education initiatives. They will bring together researchers, academics, Ministry & NIE representatives, school representatives and those experienced in Education.
On this second International Day of Education, 24 January, the need for significant attention, better focus, and improved investment in education has never been greater. The theme as suggested by UNESCO is – Learning for People, the Planet, Prosperity and Peace. Education is indeed the cornerstone of all the Sustainable Development Goals, and as a signatory to the declaration Sri Lanka too has major responsibility. Moreover we have the responsibility to ensure equitability in good quality education, to modernize curricula & train teachers so that we are geared to face the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution. Sri Lanka needs a novel approach in the delivery of education, a system that’s student-centered and one which will empower young people with new skill-sets and lateral thinking, so that they will be capable of functioning with competence on the global stage.
According to media reports, the government has announced and the Cabinet has approved a Proposal to increase the the number of students in each class from this year. Increasing student numbers from the current 35-40 in popular urban schools, can seriously hamper the learning environment for students and cause anxiety and stress, for teachers. EFSL will publish a Policy Brief on this topic soon. Meanwhile its worth reading the OECD perspective on this, in the link below. https://gpseducation.
With the new decade before us its time to ask if the Sri Lankan education system is ready to meet the FIR (Fourth Industrial Revolution), and its attendant multiple challenges. The World Economic Forum article below explains how education systems in the world are preparing themselves for the FIR.According to the 2017 School Census just about 10% of all schools (total 10,000) offer science education. Even so, the number of students in those 1000 schools is dismally small. Only about 36,500 qualify for Advance Level Science education.
There is a number of reasons, such as : State-funded Sri Lankan universities are poor in resources. Just few universities generate an additional income to augment state funds, and yet the total costs needed to manage a top-end higher education institute, in keeping with globally completive standards, cannot be matched. Recruitment and ability to retain academic ‘stars’ with excellent teaching and research credentials are next to impossible. Potential for research, necessary laboratory & other infrastructure, essential resources (financial & other) are hardly adequate. High quality research on topical areas in the sciences and humanities is therefore not forthcoming.
The Sri Lankan education system went through reforms during the years 1999 to 2004. The series of changes, from Grades 1 to 12 as recommended by the Presidential Task Force on Education and the National Education Commission during that period, included  Advanced Level reforms, i.e reducing the number of subjects offered from four to three, introducing Biology instead of  Zoology & Botany and a new formula, Z score, for university admission selection was introduced. This came into being due to the disadvantages of taking the aggregate/total raw marks of different subjects to select students to universities.Due to the disparities amongst subjects, students who chose certain subjects would be likely to score higher marks.
The Grade Five exam with its imperfections is still a useful mechanism to level the playing field in an inequitable education system which cannot be reformed anytime soon. Succeeding governments to their credit have made efforts, and continue to make efforts, to remove inequities through various initiatives, which are more or less similar but implemented under different names such as Navodya Schools, Isuru Schools, Thousand Schools and now as the Nearest School is the Best School. Education is not an island. It reflects inequities in society. Reforms take time.
During a debate on education budgetary allocation, Aturaliye Ratana Thero, a Bhikku and Sri Lankan Parliamentarian,  has said: “If a child is given a primary education in a language other than their mother tongue, that child would not be a citizen of that country,†The essence of the good Thero’s argument is that pedagogically it is best to educate a child in his/her mother tongue, and if we don’t they will also not be able to participate effectively in the socio-cultural life of this country. While agreeing with the essence of Thero’s argument, I would object very much to a  violation of a parent’s fundamental right to decide which language should be the mother-tongue for their children. The Thero is falsely assuming that mother tongue of families in Sri Lanka has to be Sinhala or Tamil.  Many families of mixed parentage or else, choose to use English as the language spoken at home and in school. Typically these are families with well-educated parents in leadership positions in the private or non-governmental sector.
Inter-group Dialogue is an interactive and facilitated learning experience that brings together twelve to eighteen students from two or more social identity groups over a sustained period to explore commonalities and differences, examine the nature and consequences of systems of power and privilege, and find ways to work together to promote social justice (Zuniga et al. 2011). My interest as an advocate for Intergroup Dialogue grew specifically with experience as a facilitator for a dialogue on National Origin at an urban American University that is increasingly expanding its global presence. My curiosity about ethno/religious tensions that are perpetuated in ‘learning environments’ also made me look into educational methods that have a record of effectiveness. At first, one can be sceptical of the carefully planned structure and allocation of participants in groups, but it definitely made me a convert when I realized how liberating it was to talk about sensitive issues in a safe and open space.