Sri Lanka - Institut de statistique de l'Unesco

Out-of-School Children in Sri Lanka: Country Study
of the process by which schools were identified for development, impaired the selection of
schools, and an evaluation of Navodaya schools in 2003 found that only 15 percent had reached
a satisfactory standard. Resources had been spread thinly and inappropriately and many of these
schools lacked essential infrastructure, qualified teachers and equipment, and continued to be
the ill-equipped ‘schools of the poor’ (Kularatne, 2003).
The Ten-Year Horizontal Development Framework Programme 2006–2016 proposed that a
specified number of quality secondary schools should be developed, with priority being given to
the 100 poorest divisions in the country identified by the Department of Census and Statistics in
2006. Consequently, a policy of establishing Isuru quality schools in the poorest 100 divisions is
being implemented. Information on their progress in meeting the educational needs of vulnerable
children in the country’s most disadvantaged locations is yet to become available.
The most recent effort to reduce regional and socioeconomic disparities in the provision of
education is the new policy announced in the national policy document, Mahinda Chintana:
Development Framework 2010, to be introduced in 2012. The intention is to develop 1,000
secondary schools, according to divisional requirements, and to attach 4–5 primary schools as
feeder schools to each secondary school to facilitate equal educational opportunities (MOF,
2010b). Objective criteria, based on a school mapping exercise, have been proposed and the
critical need is to adhere to this scheme and eliminate politicization of the selection process.
The proposal is also included in the second phase of the ESDFP, currently being developed with
assistance from the World Bank. Transforming School Education as the Foundation of a
Knowledge Hub 2011–2015 has as its first pillar ‘promoting equity of access to basic and
secondary education’. The programme envisages a primary school in each village and a
secondary school within a reasonable distance. This builds on the third theme of the current
ESDFP, ‘enhancing economic efficiency and equity of resource allocation’, which is intended to
improve equity and reduce disparities in the distribution of resources for education programmes
(MOE, 2006).
Proposals for revision of the Education Act, which have been discussed by the Parliamentary
Consultative Committee, also recognize the need to remove disparities in the distribution of
schools, as well as for discrimination in favour of poor, backward and disadvantaged schools.
UNICEF’s Child-Friendly Schools Programme for primary schools and its consistent support to
NFE centres for OOSC have made significant contributions to extending education equitably to all
types of children.
These policies, many of which focus on improving the coverage of secondary schools, obviously
encourage the education of all children but will have the greatest impact on children in Dimension
3, secondary-school-age children who are currently out of school. They also promote the
construction and upgrading of primary schools in rural and underserved areas, which will benefit
children in Dimension 2. Regulations to prevent problems such as politicization will have to be put
in place alongside these policies, if they are to be truly effective.
School infrastructure facilities
Shortcomings in the implementation of supply-side policies are clearly seen in the continuing wide
disparities reflected in the distribution of safe school buildings and adequate water and sanitation
amenities. Despite policies that have as their objective the ‘modernization’ of the school system
with all required facilities, financial constraints have limited the resources available for infrastructure
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