Education without barriers

The Advanced Level examination results are a pivotal moment for students. In what is arguably the most competitive exam they will face in their lives, over 300,000 students usually sit for the exam, of which about one third receive the minimum results needed to enter university. However, due to lack of resources, only about 20,000 students will eventually receive places within public universities. 

Given the competitiveness of the exam and its decisiveness in determining higher education opportunities for students, the rankings of the exam receive much attention. Schools too vie to be among the top three, as it gives them reflected publicity. Usually the rankings are made up of a mix of Colombo and non-Colombo schools, and are a case for how preferred schools do not necessarily deliver the best exam results. 

The students, mostly through sheer personal effort and intelligence, manage to get top marks and thereby beat the odds in a system that has been roundly criticised as not promoting holistic and progressive education. Some students are interviewed for the inspiration they provide others, schools do not necessarily deliver the best exam results. some  and the news cycle moves on after a few days. There is no doubt these students deserve the proverbial 15 minutes of fame, given the amount of hard work that is done over two and a half years to top the daunting Advanced Level exam.   

This time, events would have followed the usual route, had it not been for United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardena faulting the Government for allowing international school students to sit for public exams, and be ranked alongside public school students in the Advanced Level exam. The argument that students of international schools should not be allowed to sit public exams and be ranked alongside their public school peers is incredibly unfair, narrow-minded, and in contravention to the ideal of universal education. 

Gunawardena’s remarks deserve condemnation in the severest terms, as they undermine and devalue the efforts of students, teachers, parents, tax payers, and policy makers, to provide a level playing field for students, and give opportunities to the best and brightest students, irrespective of their background. Most parents send their child to an international or private school because the preferred public school in the area cannot accommodate them. Many also feel that international or private schools would give their children much needed soft skills, and equip them for an increasingly competitive world. 

Sri Lanka’s public education system, despite its many positives, is constrained by lack of resources. This is simple fact. International schools such as Lyceum, started by UPFA Parliamentarian Mohan Lal Grero, who is also ironically one of Gunawardena’s colleagues and at one point was State Minister for Higher Education, has stepped into fill this gap in the market. Parents desperate for affordable schools have welcomed this development. Students from private schools have long been included in the Advanced Level rankings, and have topped them numerous times. If anything, the increased visibility of international schools joining the ranks is a sign that all these different types of schools are functioning competitively, and providing competent education to students regardless of their background. This is a development to applaud, rather than an achievement that should be criticised. 

Rather than shunning the inclusion of international schools, the discourse should be on how to collectively develop, update and upgrade Sri Lanka’s education system, so it can equip the next generation to face a deeply diverse job market where most existing occupations and professions will not even exist.