It is an honour and privilege to be invited to deliver the Lalith Athulathmudali memorial oration this year.

Mr Athulathmudali, known widely as a rare star in our political history, shone in the eyes of many. The iconic status he enjoyed during his brief but stellar career was primarily due to three reasons.

* A politician with his brilliant academic and professional track record was an uncommon feature then. It is non-existent now.

* His achievements in the two key portfolios held, i.e. Trade and Shipping and National Security contributed significantly to national development.

* The bravery he displayed, to stand up fearlessly against an autocratic administration and to give leadership to dissent, was admired by many.

My choice of topic for this Oration was inspired by some of the lesser known achievements of Mr Athulathmudali - those initiated while he briefly held the portfolio of Minister of Education and Higher Education during 1990-91. My former colleagues at the Ministry used to often quote the visionary Reforms he attempted to introduce into the system.They still speak glowingly of how they looked forward to the intellectually enriching weekly meetings he held to brain-storm new policy.

Lalith Athulathmudali was a visionary. He thought far ahead and had a mature worldview on education. He understood that education was the key to economic progress and he referred to it as ‘the vehicle that carries the antidote to poverty’. He also stressed that; at the core of education development should be pluralism, which embraced a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural character. This, he said was essential, to a country like ours.

As a student, he shone in intellectually superior academic environments like Oxford and Harvard. As a university teacher, he taught under similar challenging circumstances in Tel Aviv and Singapore.

In the Education Sector, I consider as his most significant achievements, the following:

* Mahapola Scholarship scheme, his most famous achievement, has over the years enabled thousands of promising underprivileged students to continue University education.

Although Mr Athulathmudali’s vision for education was based on modernism, he primarily drew inspiration from the ideals of the legendary Dr Kannangara who believed in and promoted equity and social justice. Mostly, Mr Athulathmudali championed depoliticising education, freeing it from petty and quibbling party politics and he was one of very few Ministers to keep that promise.

Sadly, his lofty attempts could not have a lasting impact on our system.

His tenure was too brief and his tragic exit from politics and life brought to a closure all attempts at Reform during that period. Today 14 years after the assassination of Lalith Athulathmudali, I am honoured to deliver this oration instituted in his memory.

Education Reform is an emotive subject which is intimately entwined in politics. And this is not a phenomenon unique to SriLanka. It is seen in most parts of the world, where Governments declare their intention to change systems of education. In Sri Lanka we have witnessed attempts at Reform from the Kannangara era (1931-1947), Dr Udagama’s tenure (1971), President J R Jayewardene’s White Paper 1981, and finally the Education Reform agenda of President Kumaratunge’s administration during the last decade.

Why Education Reform?

Sri Lanka has been celebrated as having high education achievements and learning, when compared to other countries in South Asia. This reputation has been largely built on the high literacy levels and the high levels of primary school enrolment, as well as gender parity in education access and achievements. In fact we are often lauded at international forums, for being one of the very few nations from the developing world to have come close to reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as the Goals set out by Education for All (EFA) - both programs initiated and pursued by the United Nations. We are commended for enjoying a high place in the Human Development Index (HDI), despite being a country with a middle level income.

However, when describing our achievements, we often choose to ignore our failures and the serious gaps in the system i.e,

In the case of education expenditure,

* Sri Lanka is one of the lowest spenders on Education for the South Asian region, i.e

2-3%of GDP

* Expenditure from the National Budget 7-9% (international average expenditure on education 5.5% of GDP and 13.3% of total Govt expenditure – OECD 2006)

* Teacher salaries, at 1.5% of per capita income are considerably lower than India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea.

* Per capita expenditure on students in primary, secondary and tertiary sectors falls well behind other countries. As a proportion of GDP Sri Lanka has the lowest public expenditure on education, whereas it has the highest per capita expenditure on defence.

1997 - Year of Education Reform

In my presentation today, I intend speaking of the attempts that were made and the failures encountered in introducing changes to education policy during 1995-2005. This is a period about which I can speak first hand, since it was during this period that I held responsibilities in the National Education Commission and the Ministry of Education.

The Vision of the Government at the time was to modernise the education sector, to make it relevant to the contemporary needs of the 21st century, in keeping with global changes in education. The core principles of this program were:

I will highlight some of the key initiatives introduced within these categories and the issues that we faced during implementation.

Curricula Reform and Modernisation

This was based on the imperative to shift from rote learning and didactic teacher-centred teaching, to student-based-learning, where activities and projects were introduced from the primary classes upwards. The new primary curriculum, organised through Key Stages 1, 2&3, was integrated and activity-based, where children learnt through play. Activity-based-Oral English a new subject introduced for the first time, enabled 5 year olds to learn few English words during school hours. This was coupled with introducing English Language at Grade 3. These moves were largely welcomed by parents.

The secondary school reforms (Grade 6-13) were more complex and took longer to implement. The key changes introduced initially were,

* replacement of the integrated curriculum with subjects, within a ‘thematic approach’ in the transitional years (age 11-14)

* Activities and Projects were included appropriately

* English medium instruction (as an option) was introduced at Grade 6 -Maths, Science, Health Science and Environment, as well as into A’level Science classes in selected schools where trained teachers were available

* Reducing the number of A’level subjects from 4 to 3

* Biology introduced in place of Botany and Zoology

* General English and General IT (Information Technology) were introduced into the A’level as core subjects

Intensive and structured teacher training preceded the introduction of the new curriculum in the different Grades.

Upgrading and modernising text books

Modernising text books was a key component of the Reform program. The out-dated, drab and monotonous books given free to children were written either by the National Institute of Education (NIE) or the Education Publications Department (EPD). These books, for some years, have been in want of factual accuracy and sometimes neglected ethnic and religious sensitivities. This had led to controversy and intense political debate.

In the search for excellence in books, the Ministry introduced a Multiple Book Option (MBO), a practice widely used internationally. Through the MBO, a wider choice of books was made available and schools were given multiple options for each subject. Both local and reputed international writers and publishers of books were invited to bid, in an open and transparent manner. They were to produce books in accordance with the syllabuses prescribed by the NIE of the Ministry. It was hoped that the element of competition would lead to higher standards and better quality of books. Subject Specialist Panels appointed by the EPD were mandated to approve the manuscripts prior to awarding the tenders. Children and teachers welcomed these new books which were undoubtedly of superior quality.

This method was in operation until the end of 2005, but has now been abandoned; reverting back to the old system where there are no options in book selection. The monopoly of book writing and publishing once more is vested with the NIE and the EPD of the Ministry.

Examination Reforms

Key reforms were introduced into the three public examinations (Grade 5 scholarship exam, O’Level and A’ level) based on the recommendations by expert committees:

* Grade 5 exam paper was revised to test Essential Learning Competencies, deductive thinking, analytical and application skills. Reducing the focus on factual recall, improving the quality of the paper and making it child-friendly, were considered priority.

* Revision of O’Level papers, bringing them on par with GCSE (UK) and other comparable exams in developed countries, making available the option for students to take the exam in the English medium

* At A’level the Common General Test was made compulsory for those who seek admission to University. It tested general awareness on national and international affairs, problem solving, analytical skills and simple mathematical skills.

* Item banks were introduced for several subjects.

* School-Based Assessment was institutionalised into the secondary school. This landmark initiative scientifically assessed students continuously during the year, and the marks scored were recorded in the GCE O’level and A’ level certificates.

* Revising Exam Time Table – speeding up the delivery of O’level exam results to March, so that A’ level students can start term in April/May. This also ensured that students did not aimlessly stay at home for more than three months after the O’level. Holding the A’ level exam in May each year also enabled those who wished to apply to university overseas to do so, until the UGC called for applications. This scheme has also been changed since last year.

Grade one admissions 2005-2006

One of the reasons for the public to lose faith in our education system was the corruption and injustice that prevailed every year with Grade 1 admissions. It was an open secret that irregularities in the selection process took place at the school level as well as at the Ministry/Provincial level. The degree of political interference in this matter is also well known. Even honest officials and administrators are powerless in decision making. Due to political pressures the Secretary to the Ministry has to often violate the School Admissions Circular that he himself signs!

Having studied the problem in depth and after having gone through series of consultative processes through the National Education Commission for many years, a new system for processing applications for the popular 325 National Schools was devised. This scheme did not in any way tamper with the quotas allocated for children who lived near the school (the ‘area rule’) or had siblings attending the school or had parents who had attended that school.

The innovation was to make the application process transparent from the very beginning. By feeding the applications into the computer using specially designed soft ware, and by posting the results on the web site at every stage of the selection. Those children who were eligible, short listed, and those who were eventually selected knew to what school they had gained entry. There was no mechanism to surreptitiously include a candidate who did not meet the required criteria. Nor was there room for political and other influences to creep in. This was primarily because the new system ensured transparency from the word ‘go’.

* Poor secondary school achievements, like low pass rates at O’level (Dec 2006 47.7%)