education-dev-global-era-69

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Chapter 5: Paradoxes of Economic and Social Development in Sri Lanka:the Wages of Civil War – Angela W. LittleThese welfare measures established an enduring political commitment to social justice pursuedto greater or lesser degrees by all political parties who:attempted to attack poverty through redistributive measures. A massive programme of socialwelfare was introduced on the eve of political independence… Free education (from 1945),free health services and food subsidies brought relief to low income groups, reducedinequalities and raised living standards, culminating in a relatively high Physical Quality ofLife Index of 80 in the seventies (Jayaweera, 1986: 3).From the 1940s the tension between the economic and social goals of development wasapparent. In 1948 the Minister of Finance asserted:Social services are not a means of creating wealth but of distributing it…. The question thenarises as to what extent the wealth that is produced can be distributed without causingprejudicial effects on the national economy…. if the entire national income is distributedequitably among its population it would make beggars of us all (quoted in Gunatilleke,1974: 13).Income equality was moderate and remained so over the period 1948-1977. The income Ginicoefficient (for spending units) in 1953 was 0.46, in 1963 0.45 and in 1973 0.35 (CentralBank of Sri Lanka, 2005).2.4 Education as welfare and channel of social mobilityColonial education policy promoted English-medium education among a small elite andvernacular-medium education (in Sinhala or Tamil) among the majority. Whilst oftendescribed as having a dual structure, a more appropriate structural characterisation ofeducation pre-independence is tripartite, with a privileged English-medium minority, and twounder-privileged majorities, one Sinhala-medium and the other Tamil-medium. Free andcompulsory vernacular education was promoted from the early years of the twentieth centurywhile English-medium schools charged fees.Educational expansion was a key element of Sri Lankan social development strategy.Constitutional changes recommended by the Donoughmore Commission in 1928 placededucation under the control of a popularly elected Minister in 1931 (Dr. C. W. W.Kannangara), removed income and literacy franchise criteria and enacted universal franchise.Popular demand for education grew from the 1930s.So linked was the expansion of education to the political projects of franchise and independencethat educational opportunity came to be conceived of as a developmental end in itself. In theyears leading to and following independence three main education policies with accompanyinglegislation were introduced, which were central to the long term goal of creating a nationalsystem of education and a strong independent nation. Spurred by political as much as economicconsiderations, these would come to shape the capacity of society to engage with the economicdemands of global re-integration in later years.DFID 167
Education and Development in a Global Era:Strategies for ‘Successful Globalisation’2.4.1 Free educationIn the run-up to independence the ‘free’ education policy was introduced. While vernacularmediumeducation was already free, English medium schools charged fees. Vernaculareducation, perceived as inferior to English-medium education, led children to modestemployment as vernacular teachers, ayurvedic physicians or notaries while fee-chargingEnglish-medium schools offered the best employment opportunities. Only when these werefree and open to all would equality of opportunity be realised, or so the political rhetoric went.Unsurprisingly, the policy attracted considerable support from the poorer sections of society(Jayasuriya, 1979).The free education act was passed by the State Council in 1945, heralded as transformingeducation from a ‘patrimony of the rich’ to an ‘inheritance of the poor’. It received widespreadpolitical support from the English-educated nationalists and socialists and the vernaculareducatedBuddhist monks, ayurvedic physicians and vernacular teachers.Described by some of its critics as ‘the pearl of great price’, the free education scheme hadsuch appeal to the recently enfranchised population that it would have been suicidal for anypolitician to have opposed it openly. The funding of the scheme was made possible, in part,by the government revenues from the still-buoyant plantation sector (Little, 1999: 91).In reply to opposition to the scheme from the Financial Secretary in the State Council in 1943,Kannangara replied:…. the financial wiseacre… advised that education was not a long-term investment, that itdid not produce anything, that loan funds should be given only for projects which give areturn in money – quite irrespective of the consideration that the best investment acountry could make is for education of the people. (C.W.W. Kannangara quoted inGunatilleke, 1974: 4).The immediate consequence of the free education act was that the well-to-do continued to sendtheir children to prestigious government and government-aided schools without paying fees,while the masses ‘continued to receive free the poor quality education that had all along beenfree to them’ (Jayasuriya, 1979: 475). On the eve of independence in 1948 Sri Lanka couldboast a literacy rate of 58%, a primary enrolment ratio of 80% (on a par with Korea, Taiwanand Singapore) and a secondary enrolment ratio of 20%.2.4.2 The relegation of English and take-over of denominational schoolsThe second major policy change concerned medium of instruction. Language was a centralplank of the political project of Sinhalese nationalism and of the relationship between thepost-independent state, religion and education. The policy was intended to remove privilegesattached to an English medium education. English was relegated from a medium of study forthe few to a subject of study for all. Sri Lankan educators were adamant that the political goalof nationhood, the social goal of equality and the pedagogic advantage of mother tonguelearning would override the value of English and the advantages enjoyed by the elite.168 DFID
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Researching the Issues200769Educati
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Education and Development in a Glob
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List of AcronymsList of AcronymsAIC
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List of AcronymsSPARCSSASSASTTEVTTV
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Executive SummaryExecutive SummaryT
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Executive Summaryseveral decades la
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Executive SummaryOur studies of Eas
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Chapter 1: Introduction - Andy Gree
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1. IntroductionChapter 1: Education
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Chapter 1: Education, Globlisation
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1. IntroductionChapter 2: China’s
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Chapter 2: China’s Uneven Develop
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Chapter 6: Conclusions - Andy Green
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BibliographyBibliographyABAGI, O. (
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BibliographyBHALLA, S. (2003) The R
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BibliographyDALE, R. and ROBERTSON,
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BibliographyESPING-ANDERSEN , G. (1
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BibliographyGRIES, P.H. (2004) Chin
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BibliographyJAMES, H. (2001) The En
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BibliographyKINGDON, G. G. (1999)
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BibliographyLIU, Q.L., WANG, J.P. a
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BibliographyMUNSHI, K. and ROSENZWE
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BibliographyPERERA, L., WIJETUNGE,
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BibliographyREPUBLIC of KENYA (2003
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BibliographySISCI F. (2005) ‘Is C
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BibliographyUNDP (1999) Kenya Human
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BibliographyWORLD BANK (2003b) Chin
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IndexIndexAfricanisation, 144, 161A
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Index96-7, 110, 127; unorganised, 3
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NotesDFID 255
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DFID’s headquarters are located a
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