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Out-of-School Children in Sri Lanka: Country Study A 2.7.4 Governance and management factors Conflict and natural disaster Although the conflict ended in 2009, its impact was still affecting access to education in the two conflict-affected locations in the study. Conflict was given as a reason for dropout by children (15.4 percent) and caregivers (12.2 percent) and as a reason for irregular attendance by children (7.2 percent). The closure of schools had affected 38 students and displaced 14. In Batticaloa, children stated they had dropped out of school as a result of frequent displacement, the shortage of teachers, destruction of school infrastructure, and loss of interest in studies. One student remarked that she had rejoined her school after it was re-opened but, as students did not receive the free textbooks and uniforms that should have, she dropped out after some time. In Kilinochchi, children said they faced similar problems: the lack of an adequate number of schools meant that those that were open were often far from home and also overcrowded. In addition, family and economic problems resulting from the conflict kept some children out of school. Policy should focus on revitalizing the education system in conflict-affected districts and ensuring that all children are able to access schools. At the time of the study, tsunami-affected locations had returned to normalcy and other forms of natural disaster such as floods, cyclones, landslides had usually short-term impact requiring transitory assistance. Birth certificates The inability to obtain the certificate required for a child’s enrolment in school from the Grama Niladhari (birth certificate/ voters’ list) was mentioned as a reason for non-enrolment by 15.6 percent of caregivers. They suggested that this was usually because they had insufficient money or knowledge to acquire the right documents. Although children were sometimes admitted without the required documents, this caused ‘problems’ for the school as free textbooks and other provisions were not allocated for such children. There are policies in place such as the Compulsory Education Regulations that make alternative provisions for admission of children without birth certificates; however, these are not widely known about or understood. Therefore, awareness-raising on this issue would perhaps improve the situation. Political will Compulsory Education Regulations were introduced in 1998 and mechanisms were created in the form of committees at divisional and Grama Niladhari levels to ensure their enforcement. The ESDFP assigned the task of resuscitating these committees to the Non-Formal Division of the Ministry of Education, operating under the devolution of responsibility to provincial administrations through Non-formal Education Officers at the local level. Over half of key informants in the field study reported that Compulsory Education Committees had been established in their locations, ranging from 90 percent in Batticaloa and 83.3 percent in Ampara to 28.6 percent in Nuwara Eliya and 23.1 percent in Ratnapura. Only 11.6 percent of said that committees were very active and 75.4 percent said that they were moderately active, while 66.7 percent said they were effective. 116
Out-of-School Children in Sri Lanka: Country Study Individual officers too do not appear to be proactive in getting children to school. Only 26.1 percent of caregivers in households with OOSC said that an official had requested them to send a never-enrolled child to school, and 37.8 percent of never-enrolled children said their parents had been requested to send them to school. Among dropped-out children, 39 percent said that they had been requested by an official to go back to school. Although nearly all caregivers (91.5 percent) said that it was important that children should go to school and 67.6 percent of children who had dropped out said that their life chances would have improved had they continued in school, little action appears to have been taken. It appears that neither officials nor families are sufficiently motivated. However, the experiences of children recorded in their life stories indicate that some officials have endeavoured to motivate or assist families or children to pursue their education. In Galle–Neluwa, the Child Rights Promotion Officer, the Probation Officer, and the Non-formal Education Officer had all actively helped to get OOSC into school. The Grama Niladhari in Polonnaruwa and Moneragala had also tried to persuade OOSC to return to school. Key persons reported that Child Rights Promotion Officers in Batticaloa and Kilinochchi were very active. In Batticaloa, the Samurdhi Officer had informed families that OOSC must be sent to school. A few principals had also visited homes to persuade parents to send children to school. Another strategy to provide access to education for all children is the organization of non-formal literacy/education classes for OOSC that would allow them to be admitted to formal school when they have acquired adequate functional literacy and numeracy skills. Some 43.8 percent of key informants (excluding those in Nuwara Eliya, Moneragala and Polonnaruwa) reported that there were non-formal literacy centres/classes in their location and 36.4 percent said that children had re-entered formal school. However, they also mentioned that lack of financial resources, lack of recognition of the need for such classes, and low student participation have contributed to the failure to open more centres. Only one caregiver reported sending a never-enrolled child to non-formal literacy classes and 11.1 percent of caregivers claimed to have encouraged dropped-out children to enrol. Some 3.1 percent of dropped-out children had enrolled in these classes and 9.2 percent reported that they had been asked by officials to join a class. Although alternative educational opportunities have benefited only a small proportion of those in need, 33.9 percent of OOSC expressed a wish to enrol in a class and re-enter formal school. Planning and implementation of programmes The ESDFP introduced Annual School Development Plans and 37.2 percent of key informants reported that they have been involved in the preparation of such plans. Although it was not possible for this study to assess the impact of these plans on the quality of education provided in schools, analysis of school-related factors suggests that they have had little effect on school-side factors such as infrastructure, curriculum renewal or teacher development. Monitoring It appears that monitoring has been the weakest aspect of management and that there has been little coordination to synergize interventions in education with other sectors such as social protection. The two mechanisms established at local level do not appear to have functioned effectively. Almost half the proposed Compulsory Attendance Committees, which were intended to include representatives of the local administrative unit and line ministries involved in child-related 117
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Ministry of Education
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© United Nations Children’s Fund
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Message of the Hon. Deputy Minister
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Message of the Director of Educatio
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Acknowledgements CENWOR would like
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Acronyms 5DE Five Dimensions of Exc
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● ● Children in Dimension 4 are
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Framework of Actions on Education a
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Out-of-School Children in Sri Lanka
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Sri Lanka - Institut de statistique de l'Unesco

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