Social

AN EDUCATION I WANT FOR MY DAUGHTER

In a short span of 3 ½ years the government has just presented its fifth budget. The cuts in expenditure or as I would argue, the cuts in investment in education continues. Sri Lanka now invests one of the lowest percentages in education as a percentage of its GDP. There are many attempts to statistically prove otherwise by estimating the private investments made by individuals and households. But even by South Asian standards Sri Lanka is at the bottom of the table in investments in education

Table : Selected countries in terms of expenditure on Education as % on GDP World Bank data

The important question to ask oneself – what is the purpose of education? We often hear the comment being made that ‘university graduates are not suitable for employment’. Is the primary goal of education for profit and economic gain?

The world over there is a push for the goal of education to be narrowly defined and measured in terms of economic benefit. Politicians are measured by their success in delivering employment in the short term. So politicians define education by its utility value. The celebrated philosopher Martha Nussbaum argues that education must prepare the individual for citizenship, employment and a meaningful life.

In a democratic society we value the freedom of thought, expression, worship and association. The meaningful practice of these freedoms requires a citizen to be educated. But what kind of education?

An education for employment is often the acquiring of skills. The dominant development model measures a country’s progress based on its GDP growth and per-capita income growth. The impartation of skills, the emphasis on literacy, numeracy, use of computers and technology is paramount in reaching these economic targets. But an education limited to the above does not encourage critical thinking. What’s needed most on the factory floor is the ability to precisely and routinely carryout a set of instructions – A highly prized value for economic prosperity in the short term. But long-term sustainability is dependent on invention and innovation. The quality of education must foster critical thinking, questioning, criticism and imagination. It must provide the skill and courage to raise a dissenting voice.

Such an education is not willingly promoted by the ruling class. Social control of people is under- mined by such an education. Unfortunately policy making is largely in the hands of a relatively uneducated political class who do not appreciate the value of critical thinking, question, dissent and imagination. Building a road, laying a side walk requires skill, but educating a population for inclusive citizenship is taking education beyond its narrow economic definition into the humanities. The value of the academic in policy making has been under estimated at our own peril. Sri Lanka has been under Colonial rule for 450 years. A period which was dominated by a Master-Servant mentality.

The Colonial mentality continues to be fostered by educating only for profit, rather than educating to think critically. While the State education system is in decline it is worrying that private universities may also educate for profit compounding the problem. If private education is a door way to a quality education then we must ensure distribution and access based on merit rather than on one’s ability to pay. Creative funding could be provided by the State to broaden the access to quality private education. However, it must be noted that Sri Lanka has not been able to attract higher education institutions of the highest quality, where Singapore and Malaysia succeeded.

If the democratic way of life is to survive, critical thinking needs to be nurtured. Those who can think must show the way. The FUTA led agitation a year ago to protect the public education system was gathering momentum when it suddenly lost its way. It now appears that the leaders caved into pressure that was brought upon them. We have not seen any results that justify the dropping of the FUTA demands. Today the project to re-write history from an official sanctioned perspective – no different from the LTTE sanctioned history dictated to schools in the North sometime ago – will destroy critical thinking. History at best is the narration of events and facts based on perspectives of the researchers. Would not society benefit from the wisdom of many perspectives than from the narrow perspective of a ruling elite? Cultural triumphalism is propagated at the expense of diversity. Cultural triumphalism lacks in self criticism almost always blaming our troubles on outsiders and foreigners. We do not face up to the inequalities, injustices, ethic, casts and creed differentiation amongst us. Ravindranath Tagore said that aggressive nationalism blunts the moral conscience and does not recognize the individual. It only allows for group identity and group-speak. What is required is the ability to think and debate on Political, Social and Economic issues without differing to neither tradition nor authority. To debate as equals despite differences – this is the education I want for my daughter - the students of this country. Democracies are under valuing the promotion of critical thinking in education that is the need to keep democracies alive.

A holistic vision

The political Leadership of our country has a limited vision for the creation of jobs and incomes. It is driving our people to accept poorly paid jobs in harsh working conditions in the Middle East. We need sustainable employment and income. The secret lies in obtaining a quality education which is broader than the immediate economic gain. The United States has continuously grown economically decade on decade. Its temporary economic set back is not to be confused with the increasing advancement of the Asian economy. The U.S Economy will not easily be rivaled in our life time because of its emphasis on freedom, particularly academic freedom. It absorbs the best of human talent and ability from around the world. Who then is an American? It permits the American born son of a Kenyan student to become its President within a generation. United State’s short history and traditions, though often considered a weakness is also its strength. It allows change and reinvents itself creating continuous opportunity. With the notable exception of a few, we do not even permit Sri Lankan expatriates with their education, skills, technology and capital to freely contribute to this country – what a loss of human capital. We need an education for inclusive citizenship, employment and to lead meaningful lives.

Back to Top