“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today” - Malcolm X
When the Whites who dominated America treated the Blacks as slaves and as a dumb set of human beings, Malcolm X, the African-American Muslim Minister and Human Rights activist, rising against the injustice emphasized the importance of education to the Black community in order to gain dignity and a rightful place in the social fabric of America.
This valuable quote by Malcolm X should be given pride of place and followed by human beings possessing priceless assets and talents in poverty-stricken Third World countries, such as, Sri Lanka.
According to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation [UNESCO] and also the Constitution of Sri Lanka, education is a basic human right and like all other human rights, it is universal and inalienable. Everyone, regardless of gender, religion, ethnicity or economic status, is entitled to a sound education. Every point regarding this is legally bound and strictly written in black and white. But, the important question is whether every child in Sri Lanka has been granted equal opportunity to enjoy a sound and quality education.
In addition, will the education received by the present day children be used as a passport for the future, as Malcolm X expected?
It may have some credibility in the US but is it the same in Sri Lanka?
Poorest of the poor
According to statistics there are over 4.143,330 children attending 10,162 schools in Sri Lanka, and these students come from different strata of our society. There are children from super rich families who are able to send their progeny to the top schools in Colombo and the provinces or even abroad, especially, to England or the US. Then, there are the parents representing the middle class who mostly depend on their children to do well in life and later look after them during their old age. Finally, the poorest of the poor who dream of a good education for their children but cannot afford.
According to a report compiled by the Ministry of Education in 2013, only 0.4% schools offer education in all three languages—Sinhala, Tamil and English. It points out that there are only 3.5% national schools while 96.5% are provincial schools. Hence, the pressure mounted on the parents has aggravated so much so that it has resulted in corrupt elements creeping into the educational setup.
The educational reforms aimed at granting a sound and productive education free of charge presented by C.W.W. Kannangara, Minister of Education of the D.S. Senanayake regime was a great boon for the middle class and poor parents. It was a dream come true for them to be able to pave the path for a successful future.
As a result, there are University Dons, administrative officials, doctors, engineers, accountants, architects, lawyers, judges and even ministers who hail from poor and humble families of the country. It opened the doors wide to higher education.
Was it a success? It was a success, but whether it was 100 percent successful is arguable. Many children from poor and not so rich families from the backward social strata were able to gain elevated positions in society. In addition the social upheaval in 1956 too helped them to achieve the goals they were dreaming about.
The need for a good and sound education was important, and the teachers too were ready for it. They sacrificed their time and energy to gain a wider knowledge and experience to impart a knowledge- based education to the children. Many students of yore, doing well in society at present, respectfully remember the teachers who guided them as “walking encyclopaedias”. You could ask them anything under the sun and they would willingly explain it in a broad sense and encourage you to find more. They were referred to as “24-hour teachers” as they were available at any time, at any place, even at your beck and call.
I would like to mention a personal experience to enlighten the above fact. During my school days I had found the name Nietzsche in some magazine and was inquisitive to know more about this character.
I asked the teacher who taught us Sinhalese language and literature, and she willingly obliged and gave me a comprehensive description about Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, the German philosopher, cultural critic and poet, and how he exerted a profound influence on Western philosophy.
Such were the qualities and knowledge possessed by the teachers of yore.
In those days the teachers would spend a few minutes to say something about life, religion or something useful to lead a successful and happy life.
This was the result of the holistic education they had when they were students and in turn they would do the same to their students.
At this juncture we have to ask the question whether it is the same for the present day students? When students, parents and also teachers are in a mighty rush to counter the examination challenge everyone seems to have neglected and forgotten the knowledge part of education and how a broad education would help them lead a better life in the future. It has turned into a mad, mad, rush. No one seems to know what they are doing.
Teaching is an art and involves creativity. About a decade ago in England, there was a popular slogan for recruiting teachers. It simply said: “Those who can, teach”. The message was clear – not everyone can be a teacher. One aspect is creativity, especially, encouraging a child to love the subject and create a sense of inquisitiveness to explore the intricate details connected to that subject.
Inquisitiveness
I would like to present another personal experience to illustrate the point. I happened to be weak in Arithmetic. I virtually hated it and failed in Arithmetic at the O/Ls. At school a special class for failures in Arithmetic was started and I was compelled to attend it. His approach was different and he was able to create an interest by exploiting the inquisitiveness hidden in us. All of us became some kind of Sherlock Holmes, going after the hidden mysteries in the arithmetic puzzles. Arithmetic became one of our hobbies, thanks to the innovative teaching method of that teacher.
Are present day teachers capable of and willing to attract students towards the intricacies of a particular subject?
Instead of trying to find an answer to this, we may try to understand the mental situation of present day teachers. Can they afford to spend extra time and energy towards their students when they have their own problems to deal with. In most instances these teachers too are parents of two or three children and have to think about their future and care for them. It needs time, money and sacrifice. Can they afford to do everything with the meagre salary they get? Hence they have to find some way to earn a fast buck.
In such a situation starting a tuition class is the only plausible thing. They seek to make the tuition class more popular and increase the number of students.
With the social and economic issues they experience in their day to day lives, the commitment to the profession gradually fades and teaching becomes just another job.
When teachers do not perform well children turn to tuition masters as the only other alternative. The result is a plethora of private tuition establishments or educational sales points, and the prosperous tuition masters are seen travelling in Monteros and Pajeros, thanks to the hard earned money provided by anxious parents. Students too seem to be happy as there are no disciplinary complications in these private tuition schools. And the atmosphere is some sort of a free-for-all for them.
Hence the concept of free education has turned into a mirage that has entrapped our children and parents, obstructing them from using their potential for the benefit of the country and for their well being.
Need of the hour
From ancient times education has played a major role in achieving a very high literacy rate and acted as the bedrock of life and culture of the country. As education was imparted by Buddhist monks in their temples and at Pirivenas, a holistic environment was created to suit the social needs of the times.
But with the invasions by Western colonialists the country’s needs and ideologies changed to suit the needs of the aliens. Hence new educational methods and administrative concepts were introduced.
With the British conquering the country, English language became the need of the hour. There is no doubt English is a universal language, but it should be used as a tool to gain knowledge about the world and other important issues and not to gain supremacy over lesser beings. English has been instrumental in creating a class unto themselves, and ridicule and belittle those who did not speak the language.
In addition to these sociological issues, new subjects such as, Business studies, Technological studies, IT etc were slow to reach the school curriculum. This necessity was fulfilled by private and fee-levying academies and institutes.
By the time these subjects were included in the school curricula, the private educational enterprises were doing good business. Hence the free-for –all created by this situation is getting aggravated day by day and is heading in to an unpredictably explosive state.
In this backdrop Sri Lanka’s educational system faces a crisis situation resulting in turmoil in the universities which has been exploited by bankrupt politicians to the hilt and the politicization of school administrations.
Selfish activities
The teachers and the principals have formed their own trade unions affiliated to the various political parties and the students are the victims of these selfish activities.
So what should be the criteria and the goals of a good and sound education?
In this context a quote by that educational visionary and India’s poet laureate, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore would be helpful to Sri Lanka’s educational authorities to contemplate on changes.
“The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence”--- Rabindranath Tagore