Tuesday, 01st July 2014
Chaminda Perera
The World Bank report on Student Learning in South Asia released yesterday states that Sri Lanka has the highest enrollment rate for secondary education when compared to other countries in South Asia.
According to this report, Sri Lanka’s gross enrollment rate for secondary education was 85 and 87 per cent in 2000 and 2011 respectively, when India’s secondary gross enrollment rate was only 45 and 63 per cent .
According to the World Bank’s South Asia Sector for Education Lead Education Specialist Halil Dundar, school access in the South Asian region has expanded rapidly since 2000.
He said that the quality of teachers should be raised in the South Asian region. The quality of teaching is diminishing in many countries in the region despite investment being made for teacher education.
“A large proportion of budgetary funds has been allocated for the education sector in these countries,” he said
Participating in a video conference from Washington D.C. after the release of this report, Dundar said Sri Lanka has the highest literacy rate in the region and the country has already achieved MDGS in terms of education.
Anil Deolalikar, an Economist of the South Asia Sector for Education of the World Bank said the cognitive achievement of students at the primary level and junior secondary level has been on the rise.
“ The quality of education among the senior secondary level has been stagnant over the last two decades,” he said .
“Sri Lanka should focus more on the English, Maths and Science subjects, if it wants to participate in the global knowledge economy, Deolalikar said.
The report states that the large scale investment in education in South Asian countries has resulted in an increase in enrollment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of Universal Primary Education by 2015.
