Cover(final) - United Nations Girls' Education Initiative

COUNTRY REPORT CARDS 23
Sri Lanka historically has long recognized the
value of education. Many years of investment
in universal and equitable education have
ensured that girls are not only on a par with
boys but that many graduate from the schooling
system to join the able cadre of professionally
qualified female teachers. 56
The suitable implementation of several
complementary and mutually reinforcing
policies, such as tuition-free schooling, free
textbooks, free uniforms and subsidized access
to public transport buses, 57 in combination with
strong household demand for education have
made Sri Lanka’s achievement legendary in
the field of education.
In the recent past, however, the post-conflict
and post-tsunami reconstruction efforts have
presented a challenge of enormous scale.
Pre-primary education also finds itself
unusually neglected. 58 The erstwhile initiative
to provide nutritious, cooked school lunch
meals, which has now been downsized to only
the poorest districts, also needs to be
universalized. 59
56
World Bank (2005). Treasures of Education System in Sri Lanka, Principal Findings and Options for the Future. World Bank, Sri
Lanka; and S. Mehrotra (1998). Education for All: Lessons from High-Achieving Countries, International Review of Education, 44
(5/6): 461–8.
57
Kumarasinghe, U. and I. Range (2009). Transport Minister presents supplementary estimate for Sri Lanka Transport Board, Daily
News. http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/07/10/pol02.asp (last retrieved November 2009).
58
World Bank (2005). ibid.
59
Projects to Improve Nutritional Status of Children, Sunday Observer, Daily News Online Edition, 21 May 2006.