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Linking Education with the World ofWork in Sri Lanka: the experience oftwo decadesChandra Gunawardena aa Faculty of Education , University of ColomboPublished online: 06 Jul 2006.

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Educational Review, Vol. 43, No. 1, 1991 79

Linking Education with the World ofWork in Sri Lanka: the experience oftwo decades

CHANDRA GUNAWARDENA, Faculty of Education, University of Colombo

ABSTRACT Faced with growing numbers of educated youth, unable to find employ-ment and consequently becoming militant, Sri Lanka launched two major curricularinnovations with the aim of articulating education to the world of work. Pre-vocational Studies was introduced as an element of the common compulsory curricu-lum in 1972. It was scrapped in 1978 on a political decision but had faced oppositiondue to resource constraints affecting implementation and the implicit objectivesattributed to it. Life Skills was introduced with similar objectives in mind in the early1980s. The paper compares the objectives and the mode of implementation of thesetwo innovations and argues that the apparent success of Life Skills to a certain extentlies in its not being perceived as a threat to or a dilution of academic education.

The last two decades have witnessed many Third World countries experimentingwith the vocationalising of education with the aim of articulating education withemployment (see Lillis & Hogan, 1983; Lillis, 1985; Psachoropoulos & Loxley,1985; Hultin, 1987; Gustafsson, 1987; Gallart, 1988). In Sri Lanka, the momentumbehind the politically initiated attempts to vocationalise stemmed from rising levelsof unemployment of educated youth. The curricular innovations were introduced inthe wake of a disillusionment with the phenomenal expansion of education atprimary and secondary levels which appeared to result in greater social unrest thanin an improvement in the economic or social prospects of its recipients.

During the preceding decades, Sri Lanka has implemented two major curricularinnovations at secondary level with the objective of smoothing the transition fromschool to work. Pre-vocational Studies was introduced as a compulsory componentof the secondary curriculum in all schools from 1972. Ten years later, Life Skills, anew subject with similar aims, replaced Pre-vocational Studies.

This paper examines: (a) how, in the attempt to link education to the economy,the focus of attention has shifted from curricular diversification and practicalisationin the earlier decades to an inclusion of a pre-vocational education component ingeneral education at the secondary level in the latter; (b) the points of similarity inthe objectives and the implementation of the Pre-vocational Studies of the 1972curriculum and the Life Skills of the 1981 reforms; and (c) the factors that influencethe implementation of these curricular innovations, thus determining their effec-tiveness and survival.

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The Background

The trend towards democratisation in education in Sri Lanka had commencedrelatively early, even prior to the regaining of independence. Free education hasbeen provided from kindergarten to the university level since 1945 and wassupplemented by the award of scholarships to the able but needy children based ontheir performance at the Grade Five Scholarships Examination. The establishmentof 54 Madhya Maha Vidyalayas (Central schools) from 1942, predominantly inrural areas, fully equipped with science laboratories, workshops and facilities foreducation at the senior secondary level was followed by the upgrading of hundredsof elementary schools scattered over the island to the level of senior schools in thesixties. The change in the medium of instruction from English to swabasha (locallanguages) introduced at primary level in 1945 was gradually extended to secondaryand university levels, thus ensuring that the lack of proficiency in a foreign languagewould not bar an academically-inclined, able child from receiving a higher educa-tion. From 1980, free textbooks are provided for all school children up to GCE 'O'Level. In 1989, free school meals which had been given up some years earlier wereonce again re-introduced.

The commitment of successive governments to democratise education as demon-strated by the above measures, which necessitated a relatively high percentage ofthe Gross National Product to be devoted to education (which ranged from 2-7 percent in 1952 to 5-0 per cent in 1970) had tangible results. Thus Sri Lanka rankshigh on specific indicators of the level of education attained among the ThirdWorld countries and in particular, among the South-East Asian countries. In 1987,the rate of literacy in Sri Lanka was 87-2 per cent, with only a narrow gap betweenmale and female literacy (91-1 per cent and 83-2 per cent respectively). Thepercentage of the population with no schooling fell from 41-6 per cent in 1953 to24-4 per cent in 1978, while the percentage with an incomplete secondary educationrose from 9-8 per cent in 1953 to 26-4 per cent in 1978.

This quantitative expansion in education, however, was generally perceived ashaving failed to contribute to any improvement in the economy or in the physicalquality of life of its people, even though, on some social indicators such as lifeexpectancy, the rate of infant mortality or the rate of population growth, which maybe directly or indirectly connected with education, specific progress could bediscerned. Prescriptions suggested to rectify the shortcoming of the mismatchbetween education and employment varied over time but are seen to have gainedincreased emphasis in the latter two decades.

Curricular Diversification in Conjunction with 'Practicalisation'

Jayaweera (1988) analyses the concept of bridging the gap between education andthe 'world of work' in Sri Lanka as having grown from some nebulous pronounce-ments in the fifties to absorption with concepts of education as an economicinvestment in the late sixties to disillusionment in the seventies with the perform-ance of education vis-a-vis human resources development and to a concomitant zealto restructure education to solve economic ills.

The early part of the period under review here marked an absence of anyintegration of educational policies with national plans. Various Commission reportsand government policy documents in education, appearing in the same period,

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Education and Work in Sri Lanka 81

voiced the need to articulate education with the economy but the translation ofsuch policy pronouncements into action proved difficult. The strategies outlined bythem were at best piecemeal. Most of these documents perceived the solution to liein curricular diversification and/or in the inclusion of a 'practical' subject in thecurriculum.

Among the proposals were selection at 11 + and 14+ with the relegation of thosewho fail to get selected to the academic secondary schools to vocational schools andthe introduction of compulsory crafts such as woodwork and metal work to thesecondary school curriculum (White Paper, 1950), the establishment of four typesof secondary schools offering courses in agriculture, technology, science and arts/commerce and introduction of Work Experience in junior secondary grades (Gov-ernment of Ceylon, 1961), the establishment of a comprehensive secondary schooloffering courses in the above four areas and Work Experience (White Paper, 1964)and differentiation at secondary level in four types of schools—a senior school, twotypes of technical schools and a local practical school, and Agriculture and WorkExperience as compulsory crafts in the junior secondary curriculum (White Paper,1966).

Two decades of experimentation to link education to the 'world of work'however, ended without any visible impact. Some of the seemingly viable proposalsfailed to 'take off due to change of political power. Practical subjects introducedinto the curriculum proved ineffective in the face of inadequate resources and theabsence of a firm conviction on the part of the clientele of the education system—the students and their parents—about the value of practical subjects for the type ofemployment desired by the many.

The Curricular Reforms of 1972

While continuing expansion thus became a marked feature of the education systemin the sixties, the economy itself was stagnant. It was apparent that the economywas not expanding sufficiently to absorb the increasing numbers of school-leaverswho harboured heightened aspirations for white-collar employment and upwardmobility. By the 1970s, examination success was a pre-condition for all non-manualjobs in the urban sector and was increasingly being used to select for minimal wageemployment (Deraniyagala et al., 1978). Growth of educational enrolmentsoutstripped the demand from the economy for educated manpower and led thephenomenon of 'educated unemployment' as Table I indicates.

TABLE I. Unemployment by educational attainment—1971 (15 years and over)

Educational attainment

Number in schoolingPassed grade 1-4Passed grade 5-9Passed O Level in 6 or more subjectsPassed A Level in 3 or more subjects/equivalentDegree and above

All educational attainments

As % oftotal unemployed

12-013-359-913-50-80-5

1000

As % oflabour force

2-22-5

11-22-50-20-1

100-0

Source: Socio-economic survey, 1971.

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The government which came into power in 1970 was caught unawares by theinsurrection of April, 1971. The insurrection is believed to have been organised bydiscontented educated youth who were frustrated at the slow pace at which thegovernment was moving on to fulfil its election promises. Obeysekera (1974) statesthat 75 per cent of all suspected insurgents had received some secondary education(Grades 5-10) and that 0-6 per cent were A.L. qualified or university students. Theinsurgency thus focussed attention on the education system as a fomentor ofinsurrection (Lewin & Little, 1982).

The Five Year Plan of 1971 diagnosed the situation which ensued to havestemmed primarily from a mismatch of education with employment, stating:

The failure, if not the inability of the academic system of education toprovide a meaningful and a productive role for the output of the educa-tion system has resulted in fear, frustration and despair rather than a netincrease in social satisfaction. (Ministry of Planning and Employment,1971)

It stressed the need to gear educational planning to economic planning.If education was perceived as contributing to most economic and social ills, it

was in turn also, to be the solution for these problems as indicated by the statementof the Director-General of Education:

The challenge of the unemployment problem should be confronted in thedesign of the school curriculum, so that children are as far as possibleprepared to see their life situations in a positive way so that youngpeople out of school are provided with the opportunity to undertakeproductive work, given the necessary training to guidance. (Udagama,1971)

The outcome of this line of reasoning was the curricular reforms of 1972introduced to the entire system of nation's schools which encompassed far-reachingchanges from primary to senior secondary level. As the focus of attention in thepresent paper is on the aspect of linking education with employment, only thecomponent of Pre-vocational Studies will be discussed here.

Pre-vocational Studies in the Junior Secondary Curriculum of 1972

The curricular reforms of 1972 had two primary aims—democratisation andrelevance. It was argued that

Only an education which develops the latent talents in the child andequips him to secure gainful employment in keeping with his abilities willsucceed in integrating him with the community. This can be accomplishedonly by relating the curriculum to the economic resources and the produc-tive occupations of the country. The junior secondary curriculum wasdesigned with this objective. One of its significant features is the attemptto make education practical without giving undue weightage to academiclearning. (Ministry of Education, 1976)

Priority was to be given to integrating a vocational component into the span ofgeneral education by the introduction of Pre-vocational Studies. Given a keyposition in the curriculum it was allotted 20 per cent of the time schedule. The aim

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was to provide training in a range of basic skills which would be useful in any typeof vocation and to introduce the student to the world of work and its ethics and tobring the school closer to the community (Ministry of Education, 1976).

Fernando (1974) states that Pre-vocational Studies was intended to give anunderstanding of agriculuture, local raw materials, methods and skills of pro-duction. The intention was not to teach a technical subject as a vocation but to givethe student basic skills and an understanding of the nature and scope of occupa-tions available in the economy.

Nonetheless, the translation of these laudable aims into concrete action encoun-tered a series of difficulties. From the beginning, the introduction of Pre-vocationalStudies appeared to be an ambitious venture. The implementors at the school level,the principals and the teachers had difficulty in comprehending the philosophy andthe objectives of the subject which considerably differed from the traditionaltechnical subjects.

Fernando (1974) describes how Pre-vocational Studies was launched in schools.The principal of the school and the teachers, in consultation with local industry andagriculture were to select an area of study relevant to the immediate neighbour-hood. The teachers were encouraged to meet with local experts, to carry out pilotprojects and gather data. The basic curricula, however, were to be prepared by theteachers. These were discussed and refined at circuit level, district level and finallyat ministerial level. Of the six periods devoted to the study of Pre-vocationalStudies, four periods were set apart for practical work and two for theory.

In addition, priority in in-service education was given to the training of teachersof Pre-vocational Studies. But being an innovation which did not have anyprecedents for guidance, the task was one beyond the capacity of most principalsand teachers. The teachers had certain misgivings about the roles they wereexpected to play. As the school curricula were linked to the child's immediateenvironment, the teacher was expected to have a thorough knowledge of the localityand by means of discovery methods, he was expected to teach not only about theenvironment, but also the various applications of this knowledge in the occupationsin the locality. The reforms demanded too much from the teacher. As usual, theyresorted to imparting only the informational aspects of the subjects to the students(Wanasinghe, 1982). These difficulties assumed even graver proportions whenviewed in relation to the magnitude of the programme—that it had been hastilyintroduced to all the secondary schools in the system. To start with there were 1068Pre-vocational subjects, but eventually the number was reduced to 82.

In many a school, in the hands of untrained teachers, Pre-vocational Studies wasreduced to a mere imparting of vocational skills with a notable absence of itsbroader objectives (Gunawardena, 1988). The innovation clearly demonstrated thedifficulties that arise when a system which is accustomed merely to carry out thedirectives of the Centre, the Ministry of Education, is called upon to perform acreative and an innovative function.

Another difficulty encountered was the deficiency of needed equipment. Thoughthe curriculum designers claimed that pre-vocational programmes had been sodesigned as to eliminate or reduce to a bare minimum reliance on importedmachinery and equipment, and that great store had been laid on the ingenuity ofthe teachers for the proper utilisation of resources that are locally available(Fernando, 1974), improvisation was always not easy.

As in the case of many an innovative measure, Pre-vocational Studies evoked

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resentment from the parents. Decades of excessive over-valuation of an academiceducation prevented the parents from'accepting 'a preparation for a vocation'(which Pre-vocational Studies was construed to be by its critics) as a desirablealternative to the academic education which was to be the royal road to success.The fact that the curricular reforms had been politically initiated led to a naturalreaction in which objective criticisms mingled with partisan inferences. Thus whilethe concern for local relevance made it mandatory for the subject to be selected inrelation to a vocation practised in the locality, this led to a certain amount ofdifferentiation among schools. Consequently, while more prestigious urban schoolshad Pre-vocational subjects like photography, motor mechanics or radio techno-logy, others selected agriculture, coir work or fishing. The situation was furtherexacerbated by the fact that traditional vocations were linked to the caste system.Thus allegations were made that the political party in power was attemptingthrough Pre-vocational Studies to 'create a class-based society', 'perpetuate existingcaste distinctions' and 'deprive the child of lower socio-economic backgrounds ofaccess to a higher education'. This negative response of the parents has to beunderstood in the context of the social milieu which persisted in bestowingeconomic and social rewards on academic education. While Pre-vocational Studiessought to break loose from the tenuous hold that the conservative attitudes had oneducation, the same attitudes countered ultimately to eliminate the innovationfrom the curriculum.

Bearing in mind the experience of the pre-1972 era, during which 'practicalsubjects' had always been relegated to a subordinate position in the curriculum, thepolicymakers had attempted to enhance the value of Pre-vocational Studies bymaking a pass in this subject a prerequisite to enter the university. Assessment ofthe subject, therefore, entailed greater preparation than in the case of other moretraditional or academic subjects. The marks for the final examination consisted oftwo separate assessments, the internal assessment made by the teacher and theexternal assessment made by the Department of Examinations. Wanasinghe (1982),inquiring into the evaluation of the Pre-vocational Studies, pinpoints such short-comings as deficiencies in teacher preparation for evaluation (in spite of a series ofstrategies used to prepare them), the tendency of the teachers to base theirassessment on the written papers and the finished products rather than on threeareas of assessment (knowledge and comprehension, manipulable skills and atti-tudes) and the observation that all students had scored high internal marks whichappeared to imply that the teachers had given inflated marks not reflecting students'true achievement, probably because of the fear that low marks would be interpretedas a reflection on their teaching.

The experience of 1972 strongly reiterates that unless the structure of incentivesis changed, even a far-sighted and a seemingly appropriate innovation can only endin failure. Some of the shortcomings in implementation may have been rectifiedgradually over time. Having been highlighted as an area directly sensitive politicsby its critics, Pre-vocational Studies happened to be the first victim among theelements of the Common Curriculum to be scrapped in 1978 and replaced bytechnical subjects.

Life Skills Programme of the 1980s

In 1981, the new government made its proposals for the reform of education known

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Education and Work in Sri Lanka 85

to the public through a White Paper. One of the areas accorded priority in theWhite paper was 'transition to the world of work'. The White Paper stated that:

The education system can assist the student in his transition from schoolto work by providing him with information about careers and opportuni-ties for work experience. He could as a result have a realistic expectationof the types of careers available and the actual conditions of work.(Ministry of Education, 1981)

"Introducing the child to the 'world of work' by providing for the acquisition ofcertain simple skills relevant to a range of vocations" was stated as one of the aimsof the junior secondary curriculum. Consequently, the new subject of Life Skills wasto replace the technical subjects in the curriculum at this level as a compulsorycomponent. The White Paper specifies four main aims of the subject:

—to introduce the child to the 'world of work' and inculcate in him a positiveattitude towards it;

—to provide for domestic skills, graded as appropriate for the age group to help thepupil acquire some familiarity and proficiency in the use of common tools andappliances;

—to provide for certain pre-vocational skills and make pupils proficient in simpleskills relevant to a range of vocations;

—to provide for an activity-based subject to give the non-academically orientedpupil meaningful learning activities in which he can excel.

A comparison of the two subjects—Pre-vocational Studies and Life Skills—revealsthat even though the objectives of Life Skills are more specifically defined, bothappear to have, by and large, similar objectives. Where they differed in was thatLife Skills was not linked to a particular vocation in a locality unlike Pre-vocationalStudies.

Life Skills was implemented on a pilot basis in 300 schools. National implemen-tation of the program was started in 1988, phased over a period of five years, with1000 schools joining the programme every year. In developing the curriculum, a setof criteria was agreed upon. Following up on these criteria, learning events suitedfor particular schools were selected; teachers' guides for each learning event to serveas a training document also were prepared and pre-pilot trialling of curricularmaterial was carried out.

In implementation, a challenge faced by the Life Skills Programme too, was thetraining of teachers. This was attempted by an in-service course of 3^ days'duration followed by a two-day in-service programme at regional level. To evaluatepupil performance, a rating form for each learning event was developed. This wasto assess knowledge, comprehension and application. The schools were required toadminister the rating form twice a year.

Even if the objectives were similar, the differences in the mode of implementa-tion had a considerable impact on the degree of success of these two innovations.This was revealed by the Mid-Term Evaluation Mission Report of 1984. The reportassessed the level of achievement to be outstanding and attributed the success of theprogramme to several factors (Gunawardena, 1988).

(1) Teachers' guides provided exact directions, as to what they must do, in whatsequence, to complete the learning event successfully. This proved helpful in

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view of the teachers' unfamiliarity with activity-based methods involving pupilparticipation and new content of learning events.

(2) Teacher training focussed specifically on providing the skills needed to teachthe learning events.

(3) Supplies of tools, equipment and funds for the purchase of consummables wereadequate and reached the schools in good time.

(4) The end-products of the learning events were useful as well as aestheticallypleasing.

(5) The content of the learning events was drawn from a wide range of topics andschools were free to choose which events they will teach.

(6) Recruitment to positions of responsibility was based on competent performancerather than on formal studies. This was seen as contributing to the high moraleevident.

(7) Life Skills was not an external examination subject.(8) The quality of the management of the Life Skills programmes has been high.

Concluding Note

A re-examination of the above evaluation report gives an indication of the factorsthat exert a critical influence on determining the success or failure of curricularinnovations such as those discussed above.

The Life Skills programme has been phased over several years unlike the Pre-vocational Studies which was introduced abruptly without sufficient pre-triallinginto all secondary schools in the country. As such, the former seemed more feasible.Concomittantly, the magnitude of the task in relation to teacher training, distribu-tion of curricular materials, provision of equipment, monitoring and feedbackbecame proportionately more manageable in the case of Life Skills. Whether thesame level of achievement can be maintained when the programme is implementednation wide is yet to be seen. As Lauglo & Narman (1987) cautioned in relation toKenya,

What can be achieved in a limited number of schools over a decade or so,by comprehensive resource inputs that included teacher training...external assistance to workship establishment and equipment, and theprovision of an external support system for maintenance and supplies—isnot necessarily indicative of what can be achieved on a large scale in anentire national system. (Lauglo & Narman, 1987)

Even more important, perhaps, are the severance of the link with a chosenvocation in the locality and the dethronement from the status of the subject, a passin which had been mandatory to proceed to higher education, to a mere element inthe junior secondary curriculum, at which level no national examination was to beheld. This undoubtedly removed the threat perceived by the parents that 'voca-tional subjects' would be given undue weighting over academic subjects.

The highly-acclaimed success of the Life Skills itself should make one wary.Questions emerge, one after the other.

—Would a set of pre-determined learning events which are not linked to a vocationprovided in the first three grades of secondary education represent a sufficientpreparation to the school-leavers for the world of work?

—How would the teachers' guides 'providing exact directions as to what they must

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do, in what sequence', affect the creativity of the teachers and the developmentof diverse talents and capabilities of the learners?

—In an excessively examination-dominated system, to what extent will a subjectwhich is not decreed as compulsory for examinations and for future academicsuccess be taken seriously?

—To what extent can we envisage better labour market outcomes, that is, betteremployment opportunities, readiness to venture into self-employment, or higherreturns as compared to purely academic education, from the participation ofstudents in the Life Skills programme?

The experience of Pre-vocational Studies clearly indicated the complex challengefaced by such an innovation especially when introduced on a large-scale and as anexaminable component of the educational package. It highlighted the resourceconstraints—listed by Lauglo & Lillis (1988)—finance, equipment, materials, cur-riculum, support systems, personnel and management requirements as well asbarriers related to lack of interest among pupils and resistance from parents thathinder the successful implementation of innovative curriculum measures. Theapparent 'success' of the Life Skills, on the other hand, presumably lies in the factwhile ostensibly it is shown as pre-vocationalisation its precise degree of pre-vocationalisation remains debatable and therefore may have served to put the fearsof the consumers of education at rest.

Correspondence: Chandra Gunawardena, Faculty of Education, University ofColombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

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