Education is a broadly accepted basic human right that helps raise men and women out of poverty, level inequalities and ensure sustainable development of all communities. Health is also a well-recognised human right. Without education, there will be little public health, and with limited public health, there will be little change for education for all. There is a shortage in access to higher education and a shortage of doctors in Sri Lanka today.
Thousands of ‘professionals’ including doctors and medical specialists, left Sri Lanka, in search of ‘greener’ pastures during one of Sri Lanka’s most difficult periods. They did so, because they could, and that they were wanted elsewhere, but many Sri Lankans do not have that option – with or without free education. Sri Lanka finds herself at a fork in the road, as the island nation struggles to formulate policies and strategies to break the shackles of the past and evolve into a new nation. Much has been said about how to do so and what it would take, but words are cheaper than action.
Sri Lankans are rightly proud of our ‘free education’ system. It has become a cornerstone of our community over seven decades, and has empowered so many, forging the current class of professionals and public officials. However, like all things in life, the State, systems and policies must also evolve with time. Our current education system, championed by up for being ‘free’ and many other things, is sadly not inclusive enough, and nor is it equipping young Sri Lanka to face the world of ‘tomorrow’. The scale of the effort needed to ensure every student will get an equal chance to develop their talents and to be ‘fit for purpose’ in tomorrow's job environment, is something beyond Sri Lanka’s reach at present. Even if we significantly improve our expenditure on education, and rush to build the vast infrastructure needed to give ‘fair’ access to higher education for more students, the effort will take decades to bear fruit.
No country provides free tertiary education to all qualifying students. Different nations have adopted different models, some offer full scholarships to top performers, others implement reasonable fee structures financed by the State or generous grants. In many countries, most students rely on student loans or bursary systems, which balance equity with sustainability. Sri Lanka, even if there were increased taxes, and increased education expenditure, we would still not be able to give every student who wants higher education the opportunity to do so free of charge. The embarrassing detail in our ‘education’ success story is that Sri Lanka can only provide university education for about 15-17% of those who qualify Advanced Level studies. For decades we have been asking, what about the rest? The nearly 80%, who qualify, but fail to be given an opportunity to study free in state universities? What do we do with them, do we leave them to their own devices and crush their dreams?
Sri Lanka needs to embrace private higher education in some scale and form, as many other countries have done over the last few decades. Yes, our experience with private higher education has been bitter, and some examples have crashed and burnt. But so has the existing state higher education system, multiple times. Sri Lanka should look at the matter of private medical faculties in a logical manner without succumbing to political agenda surrounding the matter. There are both pros and cons of establishing private medical faculties. Last week, the Government decided to deny local students who wish to join the KDU University as civilian students to learn medicine at its faculty, there by denying thousands of student, who had performed well, perhaps they missed the threshold by a few decimal points, of learning to become a doctor – a profession, Sri Lanka is short staffed at present. Let there be no mistake, all private medical students, including the many thousands who travel overseas to learn their profession, have to undergo the assessments of the Sri Lanka Medical Council to practice medicine locally. Let us hope that the Government revisits this move and understands the folly its making. If it continues down this part, this Government will be sabotaging the future of thousands of Sri Lankan students.
Sri Lanka needs to transform, and to do so we need to learn from the past and look to the future. A government should not be held by the shackles of legacy policies when making decisive decisions to build a future.