It is said that the purpose of education is not just to accumulate facts or acquire knowledge but to develop problem-solving skills and critical thinking abilities, but in Sri Lanka the education sector itself has become a problem, as evident from the ongoing battle between the government and teachers’ trade unions over the proposed education reforms. Teachers, principals, politicians and policymakers themselves seem to lack problem solving skills and critical thinking abilities.
A collective of trade unions representing the state-sector teachers and principals has taken exception to a government move to extend the school day by half an hour to 2.00 p.m.
But Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, who is also the Minister of Education, is determined to carry out the government decision at issue, and the teachers and principals have threatened to launch a strike. All signs are that the game of chicken between the government and the warring trade unions will disrupt school education.
It is undeniable that the education sector needs reforms, but they must be formulated and implemented with the consent of all stakeholders. Problems arise when politicians prepare reforms, according to their whims and fancies and try to ram them down the throats of teachers and principals. Reforms, educational or otherwise, must not be presented as fiats accomplish, if they are to be acceptable to all stakeholders, whose consent as well as cooperation is a prerequisite for their implementation.
Any reform process sans transparency and consultation runs into resistance and tends to fall through. But governments with steamroller majorities are no respecters of dissent and seek to railroad all others into endorsing their reform projects. Politicians become impervious to reason when power goes to their heads.
It is puzzling why the government has proposed to extend school hours as part of its education reform package. Teachers’ trade unions are right in demanding to know from the Education Ministry whether its move at issue has any scientific basis. The government says extra time will help teachers cover syllabus content, free from stress. But teachers’ workload, student engagement and whether the additional time will be used productively have to be factored in.
Government propagandists have put forth an argument that teacher unions are protesting against the proposed extension of the school day because it will adversely impact the lucrative private tuition industry. This line of thinking is flawed in that the many large-scale private tutors openly campaigned for the NPP, and therefore the incumbent government will not do anything that will jeopardies their interests. On the other hand, shadow education or private supplementary tutoring is not peculiar to Sri Lanka. A global phenomenon with an enormous market believed to be worth US 227 billion, it is a major feature in Asia. It has taken root in countries with large Asian immigrant populations, like Australia, as well.
State employees tend to resist change. Teachers are no exception. Politicians are in the habit of introducing change for political reasons. Successive governments have meddled with the education sector and introduced reform haphazardly instead of formulating a national policy with the help of all stakeholders.
The proposed education reforms have become a problem because the government and the teachers’ trade unions remain intransigent. The solution, in our book, lies equidistant between the positions taken up by the government and the trade unions, and the challenge for both parties is to make a concerted effort and figure it out. This task requires all stakeholders to subjugate their personal interests to the pressing need to enhance the quality of education and ensure the wellbeing of the student community.
Meanwhile, there should be a countrywide public engagement programme to ascertain the views of the parents of students and other such stakeholders, whose voice is not heard in the ongoing debate on education reforms.
