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Urgently increase female intake in national schools’ Grade 1 admissions

25 Jul 2022

BY Ruwan Laknath Jayakody A fair policy should be maintained in order to ensure gender equality in admissions for Grade One in national schools by increasing the intake of female students, local academics have noted. This recommendation is derived from a research article on “Gender equality in education in Sri Lanka” which found that a crucial disparity exists in male and female admissions to national schools, where female admissions are significantly lower, with the result being that there are lesser numbers of female students in all Grades in national schools. This study was authored by D.P. Withanage and D.P.S. Chandrakumara (both attached to the Sri Jayewardenepura University’s Economics Department) and published in Sri Lanka Journal of Economic Research 9(1) in December, 2021. This study by Withanage et al. revealed a high literacy rate for females, although all other indicators were low for both genders. Despite the fact that there is a noticable male-female disparity, in general, the literacy rate is not very conspicuous, while there is, however, a substantial gap in terms of digital literacy and the usage of a device. Government schools of the country account for about 95% of the total student population, starting from Grade One to Grade 13, per the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s “Annual report – 2020”. At the point of Grade One admissions, there is no significant difference between males and females when considering the all-island situation, per the Ministry of Education’s “Annual school census: Final report 2019”. However, in national schools, which are recognised as the best resource in the education system of the country, the admission of females to Grade One falls behind males by nearly 7%, while female students in national schools in all Grades also lag behind males by a little more than 4%. There is, however, no significant difference between male and female student enrollments from Grade One to 10. However, females are in the lead by approximately 10-12 percentage points from Grade 12 to 13. This implies that a significant percentage of male students drop out of schooling after the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary (O/L) Examination. There are three nationally important examinations in the country. The first is the Grade Five Scholarship Examination conducted throughout the country, which is especially important for poor and less privileged children living in rural or remote areas, since they can transfer to national schools based on their marks; moreover, there is no other justifiable way for these students to get assigned to national schools without this examination. The cut-off marks for female students are slightly ahead of that for male students. The second examination is the GCE O/L Examination which determines the students’ future path beyond that level. Female students are ahead by 16 percentage points compared to their male counterparts in their eligibility to register for the GCE Advanced Level (A/L) Examination. The third examination is the GCE A/L Examination which determines the students’ continuation of studies into higher education. Female students take the lead by 16.2 percentage points in their admissibility to an institution in the university system of Sri Lanka. Even if the difference between males and females is not significant, the number of females in schools is slightly higher than males. This may occur for two main reasons; the first being that there are a higher number of females in the population, while the second may be due to the low registration or the higher dropout rate of male students. Significantly, the latter can be expected from the Uva Province, where males in schools are lower in number than females, compared to other provinces. Access to education in national schools is the scarcest opportunity in the country. In the North Central Province, where agriculture is the dominant livelihood, male students in schools are lower in number than female students by 17.4 percentage points, per the ministry. In contrast, male students are higher in number in the Western and Eastern Provinces. The male-female difference in the number of students in national schools of many provinces is not that significant. There is a gender gap related to every stream of study in university admissions. Female registrations are the highest for the two streams, law and the arts. Furthermore, female registrations are higher than males for indigenous medicine, the allied health sciences, agriculture, dental surgery, veterinary science, medicine, commerce, and management. However, females are remarkably behind males in their admissions to two streams, namely, engineering and technology. It also shows that females tend to concentrate on bio science-related streams. Generally, free education opportunities in Sri Lanka end after the bachelor’s degree, including the honours degree, and thereafter, students have to pay out of pocket if they enroll in postgraduate academic programmes. However, there is still a shortage of systematic, full-time, postgraduate programmes conducted by public sector universities. Moreover, most of the available full-time programmes are conducted on weekends. With regard to the postgraduate output, females are remarkably higher in the education, agriculture, arts, and law streams while males are higher in engineering, indigenous medicine, veterinary science, management, and commerce streams. At the postgraduate level, engineering is less attractive among females. After the GCE O/L and A/L Examinations, if their results are insufficient to enroll in a study programme in the higher education system, many students follow vocational and technical training courses. The Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission (TVEC) is the regulatory body for these courses, and all vocational training centres are to be registered with the TVEC. In Sri Lanka, courses are offered at different National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) levels, and Level Four is equivalent to the higher education certificate qualification (GCE A/L), while Level Five is equal to a diploma; Level Six is equivalent to a higher diploma, and Level Seven is equivalent to a degree. Moreover, graduates passing out with these qualifications have more practical-oriented skills to work in professions where their qualifications are directly matched. Apart from the NVQ Levels Two and Six, the male output is higher than females in all other levels. However, the enrollment of both male and female students in these courses are still low. In addition to formal education, non-formal education is also crucial for communicating and educating people on many purposes. The participation of females in literacy programmes is about 42% and is relatively lower compared to males. However, the participation of females in community learning centres is very high compared to males, and is about 86%, which indicate that females are more enthusiastic over community-based programmes than males. Per Withanage et al.’s study, disparities between genders still persist within the education sector. The male-female difference in the general literacy rate is not significant, which proves that education has not been problematic in the provision of the basics in education needed for the people, with no significant gender inequality at play. However, the gaps in using devices show that females are significantly behind males, which in turn imply that there is a deficiency in the technical awareness and skills of females when compared to males, though it should be commonly improved for all. Although there is no significant difference between males and females concerning enrollments and achievement in the early grades, differences have gradually developed in favour of females with the maturity, development, and progress of children’s schooling to higher grades and in university admissions. The continuation of studies by female students and their participation in education is conspicuous, compared to male students. This result highlights that male students leave formal education earlier than females do. This may happen because generally, due to socio-cultural reasons, males have more freedom and opportunities other than engaging in education. Furthermore, the same socio-cultural background can compel female children to stay in education without looking for other opportunities. The male-female gap in school enrollment especially starts with the GCE O/L Examination, favouring females. The situation where the majority are female students enrolling in GCE A/L can arise due to the drop out of more male students from the formal schooling system for employment-related purposes, or enrolling in private or foreign-affiliated education programmes, and technical and vocational training institutions. However, male students’ departure from formal education does not mean that leaving the formal system is always an adverse trend, and that everyone should continue formal education, Withanage et al. observed. All students do not necessarily continue education in academic fields. Those interested in vocational and technical training should be appropriately encouraged to convert their path to one that is technology based. Female admissions in national schools are lower than that of males, by nearly 7%. This is a matter to be taken into account by the education policy makers in order to raise equality, because national school admission is the scarcest opportunity a child can gain in their education life in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this right deserves to be protected, Withanage et al. emphasised. Females are the majority when considering the eligibility to enter a public sector university in the country. Female students tend to deviate from engineering and technology-based education. In addition, females are dominant in the study fields of the arts, education, law, commerce, and management studies. Significantly, the increase in the supply of educated labour from certain streams such as the arts, education and law, may further increase graduates’ unemployment. The labour market demand for the educated labour of certain streams is male biased despite the higher academic records of females. However, when there is a deficiency in the labour market’s supply of females in the engineering and technology fields, a higher wage can be expected for females than for males. This scenario shows the need for policy intervention in order to manage these adverse trends based on gender imbalances in education. Registered institutions in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector seem to conduct more skill-oriented courses. However, out of the seven levels, female output is higher than males in Levels Two and Three only, while the other five levels are male biased. Since female students tend to continue their formal education despite their marginal results at the GCE O/L and A/L Examinations, it is more effective to introduce them to skill-oriented courses and to encourage them to follow those courses in order to match the labour market requirement. Even if there is no substantial difference between males and females at the Grade Five Scholarship Examination, females show a significant lead in the output of the GCE O/L and A/L Examinations. Thus, it again proves that females have progressed and have come forward in the advanced grades. Since the bachelor’s degree output is equivalent to university admissions, there is no large gap between the admissions and output of undergraduate study programmes. The objective of conducting examinations is to screen and filter the performance of students based on how far they have reached the required or expected level of education. This objective is achieved by assessing, ranking, determining, and offering classes to students based on their academic performance during the study programme. This method of lining up graduates based on their academic performance is crucial when they enter the labour market since employers can quickly differentiate graduates by looking at the rank, class or Grade Point Average (GPA) value offered by the academic institutions from which they graduated. In contrast to the bachelor’s degree, there is a large gap between the number of admissions and the number passing out after completing their degrees in postgraduate programmes. This again shows a gap between males and females in their enrollments in various degree programmes. This situation can be expected since they have to continue in the same field of study as they did in their undergraduate programmes. The country’s TVET system offers more skill-oriented courses for males and females. However, out of the seven levels, the female output is higher than males only in Levels Two and Three, while the other five are male biased. Since female students tend to continue their formal education, although their GCE O/L and A/L Examinations’ results are marginal, it is appropriate to introduce skill-oriented courses and to encourage them to follow those courses in order to match the labour market requirement. However, the students whose GCE A/L Examination marks are insufficient to get a placement in a full-time university degree programme, become underemployed or unemployed, and as a result, according to A.R. Kaye’s “The current situation of external degrees in Sri Lanka”, some look for academic courses such as external degree programmes. Therefore, enrollment in technical and vocational courses is low, and the Government has still not developed a proper background to attract students. Female participation in community learning centres has been very high compared to males and this implies that females are more trainable at the non-formal level than males. This is a positive indicator that shows the possibility of matching the female labour force with the labour market requirement. The literacy rate does not show a significant difference between males and females. However, there is a gender gap in the females’ technical awareness and skills compared to males though this is low for all. As far as education-related participation is concerned, there is no significant difference between males and females concerning enrollments and achievement at the primary level. However, the inequalities have gradually developed from secondary education onwards, including in university admissions. There is a tendency for females to stay in education longer, whereas males drop out from education early. A crucial disparity exists in the male-female admissions in national schools, where female admissions are significantly lower than males. Due to this reason, the number of female students in all Grades in national schools has become less than the number of male students. The education output does not show a significant difference between males and females at the Grade Five Scholarship Examination. However, females lead in the other two examinations, namely, the GCE O/L and GCE A/L Exams, proving that females come forward in advanced classes and examinations. Females who are qualified to enter a university are higher than males. However, the female enrollments have been concentrated in bio science-oriented study programmes and tend to deviate from engineering and technology-based education.  In contrast, male enrollments have been centred on the engineering and technology fields and diverge from bio science-related fields. Therefore, a continuation of this trend would be likely to create a scarcity of qualified females in the engineering and technology fields and impact males with a similar issue in bio science-related fields. It may lead to wage differentials and unemployment issues concerning gender imbalances in the supply of educated labour. The gender imbalance can also be observed in the output of the arts, education, and agriculture fields.  In terms of the male and female output of vocational training courses, most of the courses are male biased. Since female students tend to continue formal education after the GCE O/L and A/L Examinations even if they are not qualified to enter higher education, it is appropriate to enhance the availability of such training courses for females, and commonly for all. Moreover, the offering of more technology-oriented courses would essentially link with the economic growth of the country. In postgraduate study programmes also, there is a gap between the male and female output. Since students tend to continue education in the same or related fields as their bachelor’s degree, this situation can be generally expected. Female participation in non-formal education in community learning centres seems satisfactory, and it shows the possibility of providing the necessary training to females, using this method. Withanage et al. made the following recommendations: 1) That the deficiency in the technical awareness and skills of females compared to males should be eliminated and that therefore technical knowledge should be provided for children through formal education under the education policy while educating the adults and updating their technical knowledge from time to time or regularly, which can be performed through non-formal education programmes; 2) That why male students drop out from formal education should be identified and steps should be taken to take them into the economically active labour force by providing them technical or vocational training or other necessary arrangements if they are unenthusiastic about continuing formal education, and that the education policy should include necessary measures to properly direct children and youth in technology training in addition to traditional formal education; and 3) That actions be taken to improve growth in male admissions in bio science-related study programmes as well as female admissions in the engineering and technology fields and to introduce motivational strategies to increase males in bio science-centric streams and females in engineering and technology-based streams.  


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