| by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne
( September 27, 2012, Montreal,
Sri Lanka Guardian) In a recent article datelined September 1st 2012 and titled
Sri Lanka’s universities: Shuttered
Lecturers go on strike, and the government has a drastic response in the Economist
it was mentioned that the
Government of Sri Lanka spends only 1.9 percent of its GDP (Gross Domestic
Product) on education. The Economist reported that a Budhdhist Monk, “staring
intently at the smoke rising from an incense stick, said the government was
destroying state-provided education because it was “easier to control uneducated
fools”.
On August 26 this year in the Sri
Lanka Guardian, Tisaranee Gunasekara in her article “Is this Development?” said:
“Sri Lanka spends just 1.9% of her GDP on education (far behind tiny Maldives
and poor Bangladesh) and just 0.05% of her GDP on research”.
Rewind to last year, in the Sri
Lanka Guardian of 22 October 2011, I wrote an article entitled: “Can Sri Lanka
Produce Nobel Prize Winners?” I said
therein: “It was reported recently that Higher Education Minister S B
Dissanayake had said that he will look into making ground for university
students to win Nobel prizes by being best scientists, researchers, inventors
and literati in the world. The Minister is reported to have made this statement
at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Open University and
the Higher Education Ministry on Pre Orientation of developing English, IT and
other skills. By any standards of
education this is a noble goal and an honourable pursuit befitting no less than
a statesman. Curiously, this wonderful
thought brings hope to a nation which has so far not produced a single Nobel
Prize, although we have had our crop of intellectuals who have demonstrated
that they are no less superior to the best in the world”.
I also said in the same article:
“President Rajapaksa in his Mahinda Chintanaya of 2005 says inter alia`: “all
maha vidyalayas and central colleges will be fully developed with all modern
facilities. Science laboratories for advanced level students…computer
laboratories, library and sports among such facilities…”.The President goes on
to say that his policy would increase the number of entrants to universities,
introduce distance learning and establish “university villages”.
The Economist article went on to
say: “Almost 5,000 academics stopped work on July 4th. Like them, he (the Monk)
is angry that the government spends a mere 1.9% of GDP on schools and
universities. On August 23rd the higher education minister, S.B. Dissanayake,
responded by closing down indefinitely the country’s state universities and
institutes”.
My question now is: “how can a
State spend only 1.9 percent of its GDP on education; close down universities
indefinitely; and have disgruntled faculty staff who demand more pay, aspire to
produce the best scientists, researchers, inventors and literati in the world,
let alone Nobel laureates?
Looking at the international
picture, United Nations Secretary General, on his visit to Timor Leste in
August 2012 had this to say at the Cassait School in the Liquica district in
Dili, the capital : “Education promotes equality. Learning lifts people out of
poverty. Life skills can even prevent disease and save lives, and whole
economies can prosper. That is how we build productive societies – one lesson
at a time.”
A recent report on the MENA
(Middle East and North Africa) countries, which have committed substantial
resources over the last 40 years to expand and improve their education systems
states: “the relationship between human capital and economic growth is highly
conditioned by the quality and distribution of education in the labor force and
the economic structure of each country. Investing in more and
better-distributed education in the labor force helps create conditions that
could lead to higher productivity and higher economic growth, but this is by no
means sufficient. It is also necessary to adopt policies that lead to the
creation of diversified, dynamic, and competitive sectors capable of absorbing
the more educated labor force to translate human capital into higher economic
growth. The evidence supports the view that countries that combine both do
better on average than those that do one without the other”.
Another factor for consideration
is that advancement in education is a catalyst towards reducing poverty. Half
the world's population lives on less than $2.00 a day. Over one billion people heralded the 21st
century totally illiterate. The GDP of the poorest 48 nations (of the world's
countries) is less than the combined wealth of the world's 3 richest people.
Nearly 1,000,000,000 people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or
sign their names. UNICEF records that less than one per cent of what the world
spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the
year 2000 and yet it has not happened yet.
This brings to bear the fact that
the way forward in education is creativity and innovation. The learning goals
of the 21st Century must essentially be: leadership in organizational
situations; application of knowledge in novel circumstances; and adaptation and
innovation to solve problems. The goals
should enable the student to cope with unanticipated events and manage an
unpredictable environment. The master’s
degree program must also, as in the bachelor’s program, provide sufficient
time, coverage, student efforts and student-faculty interaction to assure that
the learning goals are accomplished. In addition to the abovementioned general
management learning goals, the successful master’s graduate should be capable
of critical analysis and questioning of knowledge claims. At the doctoral level, students must
demonstrate the ability to create knowledge through original research in their
areas of specialization. Doctoral
programs must include: acquisition of advanced knowledge in specialization;
development of advanced theoretical and practical skills; specialization in
managerial and organizational contexts; preparation for teaching; and
dissertation demonstrating creativity, integration and original work.
It is an incontrovertible fact
that investment in education is intrinsically linked with economic growth. Where wealth is distributed more equally,
school enrolments are higher; and where macroeconomic volatility is stronger,
school enrolments are lower. I will
close with a quote from Diogenes Laertius: “The foundation of every state is
the education of its youth”.
 In a recent article datelined September 1st 2012 ...){kind=link}