Why has Sri Lanka Performed Better in Education?

Understanding the history and the development of education is more important than understanding present day educational standards in the comparative analysis of the educational systems. Therefore, let us first examine the development of education in each of Nepal and Sri Lanka, both of which are developing South Asian countries.  Since Nepal was an isolated country ruled under an autocratic rule of Rana, Nepal lacked any form of creative destruction in development till 1951 and the same could be said for educational development of the country as well. The first educational institution in Nepal was established in 1853, while the first university was established in 1959. Only after the introduction of an education plan in 1971, development of educational system seemed to gain momentum. 

Nepal was deemed as an educational miracle by some experts due to  its primary enrollment rise from a mere 10 percent in 1960 to 80 percent in 1990 (Easterly, 2001, p. 73). Nepal had primary school enrollment rate of 98.5 as of 2013 (Data: School enrollment, primary (% net), 2013) and only primary school is free, but not compulsory (Education Policy and Data Center, 2014) in Nepal. Similarly, secondary school enrollment in Nepal was 59.8 as of 2013 (Data: School enrollment, secondary (% net), 2013). According to CIA fact book, Nepal’s literacy rate for age of 15 and above was at 66 percent and that for the age between 15 and 24 was 82.4 percent as of 2011.

Sri-Lanka, on the other hand, had a head start in the field of education. Their expansion in education can be labeled as precocious when compared with other developing countries in South Asia. Present state of modern educational system in Sri- Lanka is due to its integration into the British Empire in the 19th century.  Standard educational system in recommendation of British started in 1836- the time at which neither kings of Nepal even have not had their foot outside of their country .The education system in Sri Lanka was made free following the universal franchise of 1931, while the first university was officially started in 1921. Sri-Lanka has the primary enrollment rate of Sri-Lanka is 93.8 as of 2012(Data: School enrollment, primary (% net), 2013). Public school education till tertiary level is free, and primary and lower secondary school are compulsory (Education Policy and Data Center, 2014). Similarly, secondary school enrollment in Sri- Lanka as of 2011 is 85.4 (Data: School enrollment, secondary (% net)), and literacy rate for age of 14 and above is 91 percent according to CIA factbook. The literacy rate for age group between 15 years and 24 years is 98.2 percent as of 2010.

Case Studies and Qualitative Analysis

Historically, Sri Lanka always had a comparatively better educational standards than that of Nepal. In addition to British influence in education, the provision of Sri-Lankan government to provide free education till tertiary level for selected number of the students and the policy of standardization are important factors for higher educational standard of Sri Lanka. It is undisputed that Sri-Lanka has benefitted a lot form integration of western education, but the crux of the argument is whether Sri Lanka’s educational policy after their independence has an edge over that of Nepal or not.  In the following discussion, we will try to address this question.

Because of the provision of free public education up to tertiary education, it can be argued that the large number of students in Sri-Lanka attend public schools. According to data from the World Bank, 93.7 percent of  secondary students attended public secondary school in 2012,and 96.9 percent of primary student attended public school in 2012 (Sri Lanka Education and Science, 2012).  The literature in this field of study suggests that free public education and lower intervention from private educational institutions provides everybody a chance to thrive in education. According to Easterly, high school education has become a luxury in which students indulge themselves as their parents get richer (Easterly, 2001, p. 81), but the negligent presence of private educational institution cancels out the effect that Easterly describes above. An analysis of data from some countries show that the share of spending on education increases as economic standards of a family increase, meaning “rich children will get more education even if they are not particularly talented, and talented poor children may be deprived of an education” (Banerjee & Duflo, 2011, p. 80). In an  inequitable society, public education would be necessary to make sure that everybody gets equal opportunity to be unequal (Banjaree & Duflo, 2011, p. 81). This is evidence that free educational policy in Sri-Lanka have an edge over Nepalese education policy when it comes to equal accessibility of education.

 The policy of standardization was a policy implemented by the Sri Lankan government in 1971 “to rectify disparities created in university enrollment in Sri Lanka under Colonial rule” (Root Cause of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka).  The effect was such that Northern Province which was largely populated by Tamils and had 27.5 percent share of the entrants to science based courses in Sri Lankan universities in 1969 was reduced to 7 percent in 1974. The share enjoyed by Jaffna Tamils were proportioned among Tamils in Eastern province, Hill country and Muslims, while the majority of the share enjoyed by Colombo was proportioned among rest of the Sinhalese (Jayasurya, 1981). Although we do not have a data set for this time period for marginalized group of students in marginalized area, it could be probable that the affirmative action might have contributed in penetration of education in rural and marginalized areas of Sri-Lanka.  Although, there is a provision of affirmative action in Nepal, it is not as strict and as effective as it was in Sri-Lanka from 1971 to 1977, and impoverished region of Nepal still remains unfettered by dimensions of education. Research by Lee Jong-Wha and Franciscob Ruth concludes that “countries with higher per capita income, lower income inequality, and lower fertility rates tend to invest more in children’s education, with public expenditure leading to higher enrollment rates” (Lee & Franciscob, 2012).  The takeaway from the research is that developing countries need to choose education systems that can raise enrollment and reduce inequality between genders and among social groups through affirmative action, if necessary. Education policy in Sri-Lanka from 1971 to 1977, the remains of which still dates to this date, in regards to affirmative action again has upper hand over Nepal.

Decentralization is another buzz word in the realm of development- educational development included. Decentralization may not be a panacea to cure problems in education system of developing countries but incentives can improve with decentralization (Easterly, 2001, p. 288) Expert decentralization is necessary if the objective is to minimize variation in quality and to maximize overall efficiency, and political decentralization is necessary if an objective is to maximize local participation in decision making (McGinn & Welsh, 1999, p. 95). A way of expert decentralization is through economic decentralization- equitable creation of economic opportunities throughout the country. Economic decentralization allows economic opportunities for educated human capital to be created not just in the large cities but in smaller towns and villages all over the country through identification of local resources and expansion of infrastructures (Banerjee & Duflo, 2011, pp. 230-233).

When economic decentralization can be achieved, locals in rural and underprivileged areas will be able to realize the importance of education upon seeing the need of educated manpower in their locality. Thus, decentralization of economic opportunities can generate incentives in parents to send children in school and to support in their educational endeavor throughout.  Economic decentralization will also mean a decentralization of educational expertise, resources and technology into smaller town and rural villages, which will in turn improve the quality of education. Though I could not find quantitative index for economic decentralization I have advocated in this article, there are other indexes to evaluate decentralization of a country.  Nepal ranks 116^th, 143^rd, 23^rd and 96^th while Sri-Lanka ranks 88^th, 37^th, 104^{th and} 100^th in decentralization, administrative decentralization, political decentralization and fiscal decentralization index respectively (Shah & Ivanyna, 2013, pp. 34-39). It is evident from above researches that Sri-Lankan Education policies are comparatively efficient in providing equitable education in developing countries. Nepal: 0; Sri Lanka: 3

Quantitative Analysis

We will now focus on trends in educational spending in these countries and the results it has brought in these countries in recent past year. Nepal spent around 20 percent- 22.7 percent in 2010- of government spending in education every year, and spent 60.3 percent of the educational budget in primary education as per data of 2009. It can be inferred from these statistics that Nepal has focused to increase the primary education, primary enrollment and literacy rate over years. Sri Lanka spends only around 9 percent- 8.8 percent in 2012- of government spending in education every year, and spent 57.5 percent of educational budget in secondary education in 2013- which is the highest percentage of spending in secondary education of educational budget in the world (Education and Science, 2013). These data are a suggestion that primary educational system in Sri-Lanka is consolidated, and that the Sri-Lankan government is giving a push for secondary education.

(** % Enrollment Data in Primary and Secondary Education was not available for every year. Graph is extrapolated such that points for known data meet to form continuous graph.)
Source: Education and Science (www.factfish.com )

 Nepal’s primary enrollment has reached near to 99 percent over time, while secondary enrollment over the same period has reached 60 percent. Sri-Lanka’s primary enrollment has decreased over time, but their secondary enrollment has increased to around 86 percent. (Education and Science, 2013).

Even though Sri-Lanka spends lower than that of Nepal in educational expenditure, it has spent higher share of its educational spending in secondary education and the gap in primary and secondary enrollment of Sri-Lanka is also narrower than that of Nepal. If recent data from World Bank are to be compared, Nepal has surpassed Sri-Lanka in terms of primary educational enrollment, but Nepal has lagged far behind in net enrollment in secondary school.The thesis of a research in 2012 which emphasizes on the importance of secondary and tertiary for higher human development reads as follows:

Emerging Asian economies have made strong progress in improving educational capital in the past 40 years. High educational attainment, especially at the secondary level, has significantly improved emerging Asia's educational achievement. …For sustained human development, Asian economies must invest in improving educational quality and raising enrollment rates at the secondary and tertiary levels. (Lee & Franciscob, 2012)

That is to say that higher rate of spending in education does not directly correlates with the higher human development, neither does the higher primary enrollment in the school correlate with higher economic growth of the country, but higher enrollment in secondary or tertiary education can potentially do. Both literature and quantitative analysis suggests that Sri-Lanka has adopted better educational policies for better human development of the country, but an assumption that better educational standards of Sri-Lanka contributes to policy alone is misleading as Sri-Lanka had a vantage point in educational development  due to the influence of British while Nepal was devoid of it on its own.

I would like to end this article with concerns that the governments of developing countries like Nepal needs keep in mind. The first problem is associated with secondary enrollment. Since youths who do not attend secondary schools are more likely to get married early, have offspring early in their life for whom they are unable to care and be unemployed, they may indulge in political and social unrest and conflict. Addressing the full range of youth needs to be a prime concern of education ministries, service organizations, employers and school (Williams & Cummings, 2005, p. XXIII). The second concern is that of quality teachers. According to an article published in the World Economic Forum, Nepal’s secondary and tertiary enrollment is expected to grow at a faster rate (Brown, 2014).  With higher enrollment in primary, secondary and tertiary education comes a higher demand for quality teachers and educational necessities. Brain drain to foreign countries, migration of educated manpower to bigger cities, an attraction of job seeking educated human manpower into technological field who could have potentially become teachers, and a lack of incentives in being a teacher creates problems with creation of quality teachers in educational field particularly in rural areas where their need is the highest. Thus, it is imperative that governments in developing areas create incentives for investing a career in educational field and create an environment for educated human capital to remain in the country or to return back to the country.

 On a final and different note, while it is important that people like Malala Yousafzai, a sassy educated girl from an educated Pakistani family who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, advocate for (girls') education in conservative and developing areas of the world, it is equally important that families in developing areas themselves understand and witness the value of education first hand. In my opinion, the last point, along with local entrepreneurship and economic decentralization, is crucial step for improving educational standards and economic prosperity in developing countries.

References:

(2014). Retrieved from Education Policy and Data Center: http://www.epdc.org/country/nepal#sthash.hd7Cq7Iq.dpuf

Banjaree, A. V., & Duflo, E. (2011). Poor Economics. New York: publicaffairs in paper.

Brown, G. (2014, September 3). How Can Every Child Get an Education. Retrieved from World Economic Forum: http://forumblog.org/2014/09/universal-education/

Data: School enrollment, secondary (% net). (2013). Retrieved from The World Bank: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.SEC.NENR/countries/1W?display=default

Easterly, W. (2001). The Elusive Quest for Growth. Cambridge, Massachuttes : The MIT Press.

Fischer, P., & Berger, N. (2014). A Well-Educated Workforce Is Key to State Prosperity. Washington DC: Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://www.epi.org/publication/states-education-productivity-growth-foundations/

Jayasurya, J. (1981). Education in Thirld World. Pune: Indian Institute of Education .

Jess, B., & Spiegel, M. (1994). Role of Human Capital in Economic Development Evidence from Aggregate Cross- Country Data. Journal of Monetary Economics 34, 143-173.

Lee, J.-W., & Franciscob, R. (2012). Human capital accumulation in emerging Asia, 1970–2030. Japan and the World Econmy Volume 24, Issue 2, 76-86.

(n.d.). Root Cause of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka. World Bank. Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTSRILANKA/Resources/App1.pdf

Shah, A., & Ivanyna, M. (2013). How Close Is Your Government to Its People? 34-39. Retrieved from http://stateofparticipatorydemocracy.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/ivanyna_shah_decentralization_index_nov_2013.pdf

Sri Lanka Education and Science. (2012). Retrieved from Fact Fish: Research Made Simple: http://www.factfish.com/country-category/sri%20lanka/education%20and%20science

Wha, L. J. (2014, September 16). Why we must invest more in education. Retrieved from World Economic Forum: http://forumblog.org/2014/09/invest-in-education-income-inequality/

Williams, J. H., & Cummings, W. K. (2005). Policy Making for Education Reform in Developing Countries Volume I. Maryland: Scarecrow Education.