Selected policy documents and articles on education in Sri Lanka, sorted by sector or topics, are archived here in the public interest. Links to documents are provided where available. Unless specified otherwise, all material posted here are open for free and fair use subject to the condition that the posted works (a) should not be changed from its original form (b) not used for commercial purpose, without permission and (c) authorship is properly attributed. If you wish to archive your material under these limited copyright conditions please contact eduforumLK@gmail.com.

GLOBAL CONVENTIONS RATIFIED BY SRI lANKA

1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights; 1960 Convention against Discrimination in Education; 1966 Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child; 1990 World Declaration on Education for All; 2000 Dakar Framework for Action – EFA; 2000 Millennium Development Goals; 2015-20230 Sustainable Development Goals.

NATIONAL POLICY DOCUMENTS (1947-2025)

1943  Report of the Special Committee on Education (1943). Ceylon State Council Sessional Papers XXIV. Colombo: Ceylon Government Press. With Dr. CWW Kannangara as the chairman of the committee

1939  Education Ordinance No.31 of 1939 governs general education today, with amendments by  Ordinance Nos. 61 of 1939, 21 of 1945, 3 of 1946, 26 of 1947, Acts No 5 of 1951, 43 of 1943, 37 of 1958 and law of No 35 of 1973. But this ordinances is rendered ineffective after the 13th Amendment to the constitution establishing provincial councils.

1960 Assisted Schools and Training Colleges Act No.5 of 1960 signifying the takeover assisted schools and training colleges; Amended by Acts No.8 of 1961 and No.65 of 1981; Related Report.

1968 Public Examinations Act No. 25 of 1968

1972 Reforms to introduce the NCGE and HNCE in place GCE O/L and GCE A/L by the coalition government of 1972-1976; But GCE O/L and GCE  O/L reinstated by the new JR Jayawardene government of 1977.

1979 Pirivena Education Act No. 64 of 1979

1981 White Paper,  Sinhala, English). Education Proposals for Reform. Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Employment with Hon Ranil Wickremesinghe as Minister for Education).

1985-1991 National Institute of Education Act No.28 of 1985, Colleges of Education Act of 1986 and National Education Commission Act of 1991.

1997 General Education Reforms. Presidential Taskforce on General Education in Sri Lanka appointed by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge.

2012 New Education Policies and Proposals for General Education in Sri Lanka (in Sinhala). Parliament of Sri Lanka. Report of Special Select committee on Education. Concept paper behind the Parliamentary reoprt.

2020 Reimagine Education Vol I, A Summary Report ; Reimagine Education Vol II , Presidential Taskforce on Sri Lanka’s Education Affairs appointed by President Gotabhaya Rajapaksha.

NCF-2020 Ministry of Education. A National Curriculum Framework for Secondary Education in Sri Lanka. A Concept Paper

NEPF 2020-2030 National Education Policy Framework published by the National Education Commission of Sri Lanka.

NEPF, 2023-2033 was published in September 2024 under the authorship of a Cabinet Committee with President Ranil Wickremasinghe as chairman. This document was expected to build 0n but supersede the NEPF 2020-2030 published by the NEC. The Committee submitted the draft framework to the Sectoral  Oversight Committee for Education (SOC-Ed) in Parliament and received SOC-Ed consultants’ report (Not available); Compilation of public comments; Committee’s response to the consultants’ report; SOC-Ed Final Report dated May 09 ,2024, includes names of all contributors; Draft NEPF 2023-33 was never finalized due to the change of presidency in  September 23, 2024.

NCF-2025 (Power Point)   Document. Ministry of Education (Launched in Parliament on July 11). Transform Education: Transform Sri Lanka: Education Reforms Initiatives.

NCF-2025 Genesis: This framework is a continuation of a process started in 2020 or before; E.g. Reimagine Education-Vol I and Reimagine Education-Vol II by PTF for the purpose; NCF-2020 by MoE; NCF-2022 updates by NIE (internal shared in the public interest); NCF-2023, Report on the NCF to the Presidential Secretariat by NIE; NCF-2024, NCF-2024, Report on the alignment of NCF with the NEPF; NCF-2024b, 1st Interim Report of the Piloting of the NCF and; NCF-2025 being the latest version.

POLITICAL MANIFESTOS (Latest only):  Anura Kumara Dissanayake , Dilith Jayaweera, Ranil Wickremesinghe (p. 32-33), Sajith Premadasa     2024 Presidential Election Sri Lanka

RESOURCES BY TOPIC

GOVERNANCE

• Decentralizing education management to school clusters

RESOURCES

• Inequities in funding
• Grade 1 admission problem

RULES AND REGULATIONS

• Access to education:
• Religion and Values:
• Medium of Instruction: What should be our policy on teaching English?; National Education Commission (2024). Situational analysis of the bilingual approach. (Research consultants: Harsha D. Wijesekera and Priyatha Nanayakkara); National Education Commission (2024). Recommendations for the National Policy on Medium of Instruction in Schools.
• Literacy and numeracy
• Subject knowledge: What should our children learn in the age of AI
• Social-emotional learning: How do we impart and assess social-emotional learning
• Aesthetics
• Physical Education
• Pre-schools
• Primary education
• Junior Secondary education
• GCE O/L
• GCE A/L
• Examinations: Examinations past and present; Assessment in Primary grades ; Reforming National Examinations
• Teachers (Salary Issues)
• ICT in education: Digital infrastructure for integrating ICT in Education
• COVID & Distance Education:
• Technical and Vocational Education & Training (TVET)
• Higher Education:
• Meeting the Demand for Higher Education;
• World Class Universities and Universal Higher Education
• Weerakone, S (2016). දශක හතරක අත්දැකීම් වලින් බිඳක්. Institutional and cultural corruption within public universities. Proceedings of the Special Session on Present Status and the Way Forward for Public Universities in Sri Lanka. Ed. Weerakone, S and Perera, S.M., International Industrial Mathematics Conference, Rattanapitiya, Sri Lanka (p.). Colombo: Vidya Publishers.
• Weeramunda, AJ (2008). Socio political impact of student violence and indiscipline in universities and tertiary education institutes. Study Series No. 5. NEC: Colombo
• Gamage, SN (2016). Accountability and Openness Keys to higher education reforms in Sri Lanka. Proceedings of the Special Session on Present Status and the Way Forward for Public Universities in Sri Lanka.
• World bank (2009). Towers of Learning. Peril and promise of higher education in Sri Lanka
• University Grants Commission (2003). Corporate Plan 2003-2008
• Faculty Quality Report 2004/5 For Faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences in the Public University System of Sri Lanka (2006, March)
• Quality through Global Connectedness: Benchmarks and Strategies for Universities in Small Developing Countries, Technical Report of the Project funded by the Research on Knowledge Systems (RoKS) Program at the International Development Research Center (IDRC) of Canada (2006, February)
• Universities as Knowledge Institutions in Linking Knowledge to Innovation in the Economy and Society: The Role of Universities in Asia. Proceedings of the seminar on K4D, Colombo, Sri Lanka. January 25, 2007, pages 4-17 (See K2I_Report_Jan2007)

Covid Impact Surveys

• LIRNEasia (2021). Access to Services During Covid-19 in Digital India
• LIRNEasia (2021). Access to services during Covid-19 in Digital Sri Lanka
• UNICEF South Asia (2021). Sri Lanka National Survey on Learning Continuity in Primary

General

• Ministry of Education (2020 Nov). National Curriculum Framework for Secondary Education in Sri Lanka
• Ministry of Education (2017). A Strategic Plan for the Department of Examination For implementation in 2018-2019 Prepared by Committee of Experts for Reforming the Department of Examination
• National Institute of Education (2023). Presentation to the NEPF drafting committee on the National curricular Framework (NCF). Presidential Secretariat, Sri Lanka.
• WEF (2020). Schools of the Future: Defining New Models of Education for the Fourth Industrial Revolution
• UNESCO (2019). Assessment of transversal competencies: Current tools in the Asian region.
• UNESCO (2015). Revisiting Learning:  Assessing the influence of the 1996  Delors Report.
• UNESCO (2015). Rethinking Education: Towards a global common good
• Ministry Of Youth Affairs and Skills Development (2014). Youth & Development: Realizing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for Sri Lankan Youth
• World Bank ( 2005). Treasures of the Education System in Sri Lanka
• UNESCO (1999). ‘Education for All’ Assessment: Sri Lanka; the country status report
• UNESCO (1996). Learning: The treasure within (1996), the Delors Report,
• UNESCO (1972). Learning to Be: The world of education today and tomorrow (1972), the Faure Report.
• Uyangoda et al (2019). Civil Society Proposals for Education Reforms to the Attention of Presidential Candidates  of Sri lanka.