- Dr. Tara de Mel on Sri Lanka’s education crisis and moving forward
Even discounting the sheer chaos of the pandemic, Sri Lanka’s education system is facing an unprecedented crisis. With the current teacher-principal union strike and protest arguing for solutions to the salary anomalies faced by teachers and educators now approaching the two-month mark, learning (online and offline) has been halted for two months as well.
In an article previously published in The Morning, Ministry of Education Former Secretary and Education Forum Sri Lanka Co-Founder Dr. Tara de Mel painted a sobering picture of the teacher and student populations in Sri Lanka, noting: “The entire student (4.3 million) and teacher (241,000) populations have been facing crisis after crisis since March 2020. With school closure, less than 10% of students had the ability to connect to real-time face-to-face education, online. Internet accessibility, as per Census 2019, is only 34.11%, and as per a Computer Literacy survey, only 22.2% of households owned a laptop or PC. About 45% of students used parents’ smartphones to access notes sent by teachers using WhatsApp. A study done by LIRNEasia last year describes these data (www.lirneasia.net/afteraccess-Covid19). In summary, more than 50% of students had no access to any form of education since the pandemic.”
With 50% of our student population not having received education for the last 18 months, and the other 50% now impacted by the principal union action, what does this mean for the students themselves in the long run? And how should we go about things once education resumes? Brunch had a chat with Dr. de Mel for her perspective on the issue and how to move forward.
What are your views on the protest and strike?
On one hand, the teachers’ strike has left the entire student community in disarray. Even the smattering of internet-based education that about 45% of our students received through WhatsApp and online classes, came to a grinding halt. We must not forget that the remaining 55% of students have been totally locked out of all forms of education since March 2020.
On the other hand, teachers have been receiving a paltry salary (starting, basic salary < 35,000 per month) for the past two decades. They are not recognised, rewarded, nor reimbursed for all that they’ve done using their own resources to give some form of education to students, since the pandemic hit. Teachers are the backbone of any education system. If we don’t look after our teachers our system is bound to fail.
The protest has been going on for 55 days, which is nearly two months – from an educators’ perspective, once the strike is resolved, how can this gap be addressed? What kind of strategies do you think educators should consider to make up for time lost?
Schoolchildren have become the biggest victims of the pandemic, next to those who are succumbing daily, due to the health crisis. The education crisis has now reached catastrophic proportions, since for over 18 months no proper school education has been in place. There are huge learning losses experienced by students. This is in addition to anxiety and stress caused by impending examinations, the side-effects of being locked-in, away from peers, sports, and extracurricular activities. Over-exposure to screens and the negative impact of internet exposure, are taking a heavy toll on vulnerable students with formative minds.
Immediate planning for the reopening of schools, no sooner the current wave subsides, is a must. This should be done strategically and with extreme responsibility. Reintegration of students into class must be with delicate care. Burdening students with academic overload, racing to cover syllabuses, and speedy preparation for exams must be avoided at all costs. Instead, a simple, trimmed version of the curriculum, where learning outcomes and skills are tested should be gradually introduced as appropriate. Now teachers should be trained on how to approach kids when they return to school, and on using simple “diagnostic tests” to understand learning losses, so that targeted and appropriate instruction can be delivered.
The Government has launched radio and TV channels to broadcast education programmes in the interim, how effective do you think these can be in bridging the gap?
Radio and TV-based education were used by many countries as an interim, short-term measure last year, no sooner the pandemic hit. These methods of one-way transmission of material are no match to in-person, physical schooling. These have been referred to as “failed improvisations of pandemic education”. This is besides the logistical nightmare of a family with two to three children and one TV or radio, trying to access teaching at different times. Out of about 192 countries globally, only about 15 countries haven’t opened schools. Sri Lanka is one of them. We need to learn from other countries and emulate best practices – very fast.
In the bigger picture, both in terms of the strike and the pandemic itself, what kind of learner do you think is being cultivated at the moment? And, in the case of rural kids, and the vast majority of students who haven’t had proper access to online education anyway, how can they not be left behind or slip through the cracks in the long term?
At the moment Sri Lanka is not cultivating any learners – independent or otherwise. We are “cultivating” an under-educated/uneducated class of children, those who have been deprived of long-term school education and peer interaction. This group will enter society as young adults, poorer and harsher – economically and socially. Children from rural and suburban Sri Lanka have been the worst hit, with almost zero education since the pandemic. They are slipping through the cracks very fast. It is likely that this pandemic will leave us with nothing short of an epidemic of educational poverty.
