Colombo (AsiaNews) – According to senior officials in the Ministry of Education, one third of public schools in Sri Lanka are at risk of closure or merger. In light of this, the ministry has launched a school reorganisation programme, with a pilot project in two districts, to assess its feasibility.
Some 3,144 schools, about a third of all public schools in Sri Lanka, have fewer than 100 students. The relevant district coordination committees will make the final decision regarding mergers.
Initially, 170 selected schools will undergo restructuring, while some will be merged, part of a broader effort to improve the education system and create a more student-centred learning environment. All selected schools will be modernised under this plan.
“Around 11,100 schools are managed by the central government and provincial councils with more than 5,000 having fewer than 200 students. The reorganisation seeks to improve the use of resources as well as learning conditions for students across the island,” senior ministry officials said, speaking to AsiaNews.
“The project will assess student numbers, teaching staff, and infrastructure, including structural deficiencies. During the second phase, the country’s 10,000 schools will be evaluated, a process that will also entail closing some of them,” they added.
“The student population at these schools will be assessed, and where numbers are low, some pupils from smaller schools will be transferred to the remaining ones.”
Some schools will be upgraded to accommodate higher grades, with teachers and facilities provided on an equitable basis. The government had announced plans to merge schools with fewer than 100 students located within a three-kilometre radius into a single school.
In 2023 98 schools were not accepting new enrolments, 115 schools had fewer than 10 students, 406 had fewer than 20, and 752 had fewer than 30. Another 1,141 schools had fewer than 40 students and 1,506 had fewer than 50. Approximately 15 per cent of the entire school system falls into these categories.
Scholars lament the lack of public debate
“Education reforms ought to reform the socioeconomic structure. It is widely acknowledged that the country’s education system needs to be transformed in terms of both structure and content,” this according to scholars Mayantha Kariyawasam and Ruwan Ekanayaka.
For them, the public debate regarding the proposed education reforms has been inadequate with students, the target group for these reforms, and their parents “completely in the dark.”
Any reforms should be part of a long-term overhaul of the system, which would have, in turn, an impact on the country’s economy and social fabric.
The main problem with Sri Lanka's education system, the two scholars contend, is the huge disparity in resource distribution between urban and rural schools.
For example, water supply in Sri Lankan schools varies: 76 per cent have access to drinking water, often from wells or piped systems, while 16 per cent have no water services at all, and 8 per cent lack access to drinking water.
Around 500 schools across the country lack access to drinking water. The gap in school sanitation represents an even greater problem that has prevented tens of thousands of students from attending school.
In some areas, students have to walk several kilometres to reach their school due to a lack of transportation, which has led most of them to drop out of school.
