Five year medium-term plan for the education sector

The Education Ministry, in collaboration with provincial education authorities and national level institutes, has prepared a medium-term strategic plan for the education sector for a period of five years; from 2020-2025.

The plan has been included in the Central Bank report on recent economic developments of 2020 and prospects for 2021.

The plan is expected to address systematic issues pertaining to equity, quality, efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, and adequacy of general education opportunities.

The 13 years of mandatory education programme was expanded to cover 421 schools and a financial incentive of Rs. 500 was granted to institutionalised students based on their attendance, the report said.

As this programme seeks to create skilled workers, initiatives had been undertaken to change the model of the programme to reduce the time spent in school and increase the time spent on ‘ on- the- job’ training by vocational training institutes.

The Ministry along with the National Institute of Education ( NIE) also engaged in initiatives pertaining to curriculum development and reforms to improve the overall quality of education. They also aligned relevant aspects of the current education system with the STEM ( science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) approach.

The report also said the outbreak of COVID-19 had a substantial impact on educational activities, with schools having to intermittently close from mid- March onwards.

While the Government’s prompt action to safeguard children from the pandemic through the closure of schools was commendable, disruptions to educational activities could have a longstanding effects, the report added.

These disruptions were expected to disproportionately affect students with learning difficulties and those from academically or socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Such students may not be able to sufficiently benefit from remote learning strategies. In an attempt to continue educational activities to some extent, the Ministry continued to encourage schools to provide students with activity sheets and to conduct distance learning classes via online platforms the report said.

Currently, the national e- learning portal of the Ministry - e- thaksalawa - offers a significant amount of learning material from grade one to grade 13 to facilitate continued learning from home.

The Ministry also collaborated with relevant stakeholders to broadcast several educational programmes in both Sinhala and Tamil via dedicated television channels and launched a new television channel with the NIE for Advanced Level ( A/ L) and Ordinary Level ( O/ L) students.

Before the re- opening of schools, the Ministry provided instructions on COVID-19 prevention measures such as disinfection, water supply for hand washing, classroom arrangements and other aspects required to create a safe learning environment.

The Ministry also prepared a ‘ Contingency Emergency Response Plan (CERP) to minimise COVID19 pandemic disruptions in the education sector of Sri Lanka.

The plan focuses on the facilitation of learning from home, promotion of e-learning and self- learning facilities in schools, strengthening teachers’ professional capacity in relation to electronic and distance learning modalities, creation of a safe and hygienic school environment, and importantly, the development of comprehensive risk analysis and emergency response plan and relevant emergency response units.

Despite the adoption of online education by teachers, students, and relevant authorities, several issues such as, the disparities in access to technology-related infrastructure, limitations in teachers’ capacity to utilise devices for teaching, and infrastructure investment required to continue blended learning approaches have become evident.

Despite universities being intermittently closed since mid- March 2020, the University Grants Commission ( UGC) alongside universities and other key stakeholders continued to undertake academic activities via remote learning systems.

During the period of closure, almost all universities rapidly initiated online lear ning through the Learning Management System ( LMS), which had been a part of the blended learning system pursued by state universities. During the period from the end of March till mid-August, it was estimated that approximately 160,000 sessions were conducted in LMS with 6.7 million aggregated user logins.

Such rapid adoption of education technology by both staff and students and their enthusiastic engagement is commendable. As seen in the general education sector, students and members of faculty in the university sector also reported experiencing difficulties regarding accessing e-learning platforms due to infrastructure deficiencies pertaining to equipment and internet facilities.

Accordingly, initiatives are underway to convert all lecture material to a form that is suited for online learning while also addressing the infrastructure deficiencies experienced by students and academic staff. In line with the Government’s development agenda, ‘city universities’ were to be established in ten districts to cater to their own unique developmental needs. Discussions are also ongoing to establish other specialised state universities to cater to the growing needs of the economy.

The UGC also continued to proactively expand the academic capacity of state universities through the granting of approvals for the establishment of new faculties, departments, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. With the view of addressing the persisting issues pertaining to ragging, the UGC continues to provide communication portals for complaints while conducting awareness and orientation pro grammes for new entrants regarding the same. A detailed study is also underway to study ragging and sexual and gender-based violence within the state university system.

The private sector continued to proactively engage in the provision of tertiary education alongside the Government. As at end June 2020, there were 19 Non-State Higher Education Institutes ( NSHEIs) recognised as degree awarding institutes that offer 160 locally accredited degree programmes, the report added.

During the first half of 2020, one new NSHEI was recognised as a degree awarding institute and 14 new degree programmes offered by NSHEIs were recognised. Meanwhile, reviews of several new degree programmes are underway. The MOE, with the view of formulating a legal framework to establish the ‘ Quality Assurance and Accreditation Commission’, drafted a bill that was gazetted after obtaining the approval of the Cabinet.

Moreover, considering several factors highlighted by stakeholders, an expert committee was appointed in 2019 to prepare guidelines stipulating the ‘ minimum standards for the degree awarding institutes’. The recommendations of the expert committee are to be reviewed by the Standing Committee on Accreditation and Quality Assurance. The Ministry is to submit a revised memorandum for Cabinet approval regarding the registration and regulation of NSHEIs.

The formulation of a visa policy for international students is also in progress to facilitate and regulate international students pursuing studies in Sri Lanka in an attempt to enable the sector to exploit the regional demand for pursuing higher studies in Sri Lanka. With due consideration to the contemporary skill needs of the economy, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector continued its activities to improve the skills base of the labour force. By the end of the first half of the year, there were 1,334 registered institutions in the TVET sector

he Te r t i a r y and Vocational Educat i o n Commission (TVEC) has also developed new National Competency Standards for over 40 national vocational qualification programmes while revising said standards for over 10 national vocational qualification programmes. In the wake of COVID- 19, the TVEC developed evaluation criteria for the registration of training institutes providing online courses and an online system was developed to collect data on the training performance of students.

In addition to conducting webinar sessions, the TVEC also collaborated with television channels to broadcast a series of lessons for vocational trainees across a range of subject areas during this period. The current policy dire c t i o n of the Government is expected to ensure continued commitment to improve the quality and relevance of the TVET sector.