A clock is a simple but fascinating invention. Look at it from the outside and you see only the hands gliding around the face. But open it up, and you find a world of tiny gears, springs, and wheels. None of them is impressive on its own. Together, they keep perfect time. If even one gear slips, the whole machine stalls.
This is what I call the clockwork principle. Good governance is not about one shining reform or one heroic leader. It is about the hidden gears – judiciary, civil service, media, education, healthcare, transport, local government – all moving in sync. If one jams, the entire nation loses rhythm.
Sri Lanka has no shortage of initiatives. Commissions are created, laws are passed, and policies are launched with clear intent. However, true progress will not emerge from such efforts in isolation. For our nation to advance, every institution and process must operate in concert. Otherwise, reforms become little more than surface polish on a clock whose inner gears are left unattended.
So let’s open up our national clock and look at some of its gears.
The education gear: A classroom without a teacher
Imagine a school in a rural village where children walk miles every morning to reach their classroom. The building stands strong, textbooks are stacked neatly, uniforms are pressed. But there’s one missing piece: no teacher turns up.
What happens? The whole system of free education, a pride of Sri Lanka, breaks down at that moment. The infrastructure is there, the policy is there, but the gear of human resource management jams.
In recent years, we have seen excellent exam results and world-class graduates emerge from our universities. But we have also seen schools without science teachers, universities where strikes last for months, and technical colleges struggling with outdated curricula.
Education is not one big wheel, it is a series of interlocking gears: teachers, curricula, facilities, exams, technology, and parental support. If even one sticks, the rest spin in vain.
The transport gear: A train that stops midway
Public transport in Sri Lanka is another perfect metaphor for the clockwork principle. When a train is scheduled to depart, passengers, ticket collectors, station masters, and drivers are all part of the system.
But think of the daily frustration when a train breaks down halfway. The engine is strong, the driver skilled, but perhaps the signalling system failed, or the maintenance schedule was ignored. Passengers miss work, businesses lose productivity, and public trust erodes.
Transport is not just about buses and trains; it’s about timetables, fuel supply, traffic law enforcement, road quality, and even pedestrian discipline. All must click together. Otherwise, our economy spends hours stuck in gridlock, an invisible but massive cost.
The healthcare gear: Hospitals that save lives
Sri Lanka has much to be proud of in healthcare. Our maternal and child health services are admired globally, and during the darkest days of the pandemic, frontline workers became national heroes.
However, there are moments when the gears don’t connect. Think of a patient reaching a hospital at night, only to discover the doctor is absent, the essential medicine is out of stock, or the lab results take weeks. The infrastructure exists, the staff is trained, but supply chains and accountability fail.
Healthcare is a finely tuned system: prevention, diagnosis, treatment, follow-up, supply of medicines, and public health awareness. Each is a gear. When they spin together, lives are saved. When one falters, families lose loved ones unnecessarily.
The disaster gear: Lessons from the tsunami
Sri Lankans still remember the December 2004 tsunami, one of the darkest days in our history. But we also remember how the nation responded. In those weeks, every gear seemed to click into place. Civil servants, military, NGOs, communities, and media all worked together. Aid was delivered, villages rebuilt, lives restored.
Fast forward to other disasters, floods, landslides, and dengue outbreaks, and we don’t always see the same coordination. Sometimes aid trucks get stuck in red tape. Sometimes political interference slows down relief.
The lesson is clear: disaster management works only when all gears – planning, response, communication, and accountability – turn together.
The sports gear: Talent alone doesn’t win matches
Sri Lanka has produced world-class cricketers, athletes, and sports icons. Talent is abundant. But why do we struggle to consistently shine on the global stage?
This is because sports, too, is a clockwork system. Raw talent is one gear. But training facilities, coaching, nutrition, funding, administration, and governance are the others. When any one of these falters, say poor management in a cricket board or lack of investment in school-level sports, the whole machine stops ticking.
One gear alone cannot keep time
Politicians often promise silver-bullet solutions: a new law here, a new board there. But real progress comes not from one big gear, but from the harmony of many small ones.
For instance, passing anti-corruption laws achieves little if cases drag on in courts for decades. Expanding universities will not transform education if graduates leave without the skills the job market demands. Launching flashy digital platforms will not deliver results if rural communities lack internet access or electricity to use them.
The clockwork principle reminds us that reform is not about inserting one shiny new gear, but about cleaning, aligning, and oiling the whole machine so that every part turns together.
A clock that can run smoothly
Here’s the good news: Sri Lanka has proven that when the gears of society work together, amazing things can happen.
During the pandemic, health workers, the Army, volunteers, and village leaders joined forces to vaccinate millions, showing what teamwork can achieve. Our schools, despite challenges, have produced scientists, entrepreneurs, and thinkers who are making a mark worldwide. When safety, infrastructure, and marketing moved in sync, our tourism industry brought in millions of visitors and billions in revenue.
These moments show the machine can work. The gears aren’t broken. They just need care, connection, and careful coordination. With attention and teamwork, Sri Lanka can turn these flashes of success into lasting progress, growth, and opportunity for all.
A call for responsibility
Sri Lanka’s leaders and institutions cannot work in isolation. A minister may run a ministry, a judge a courtroom, a doctor a ward, and a teacher a classroom, but all are parts of one national clock. If each focuses only on their own gear, the machine will never run smoothly.
Citizens are part of this clockwork too; our daily discipline, civic sense, honesty, and participation keep the system moving. When society ignores rules, tolerates laziness, or pollutes the environment, it clogs the gears and slows progress for everyone.
Time to wind the clock
The clockwork principle is more than a metaphor, it’s a warning. For too long, Sri Lanka has tried to fix one part at a time while the rest fell into neglect. That approach no longer works.
The challenge now is to treat governance as a single, well-tuned machine: align the gears, oil the cogs, and keep it running. Ensure the Judiciary delivers justice, the civil service operates efficiently, the media remains free, schools prepare the young, healthcare protects everyone, and infrastructure links the nation.
Only then will the hands of our national clock move steadily, measuring real progress.
A clock with one broken gear sits silent on the wall but a clock with all gears turning is a living promise of a brighter tomorrow.
(The writer is an independent researcher)
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the official position of this publication)