Sri Lanka’s education system has been going through a rough time over the course of these past few years particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the country’s worsening economic climate. These circumstances have disrupted the daily routines and practices of young school students.

It is needless to say that this is a challenge that requires a pragmatic approach-one that begins with recognizing existing problems and then implementing effective solutions right away. In response, there are contemporary general education reforms introduced to effectively address some of these key problems arising from the nation’s ongoing economic and social complications.

These key problems are categorized into eight main areas that require improvement. In order to tackle them and ensure that stakeholders benefits from these reforms, there are sixteen solutions organized in six solution domains each aligned with the specific problem identified.

Problem 1: Lack of strong direction of education for meeting national socio-economic challenges of the 21st Century

EDUCATION POLICY REFORMS:
1. Introduction of new education policies in all key areas of education
2. A system of planning for policy implementation

Problem 2: Excessive burden of learning

CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT REFORMS:
3. Content and delivery reforms
4. Assessment reforms

Problem 3: Serious gaps in relevance of education

CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT REFORMS:
5. Clear career paths
6. Focus on skills

Problem 4: Inefficient education administration

EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION & FINANCE REFORMS:
7. New school classifications
8. Reorganization and decentralization

Problem 5: Serios gaps in education quality and delivery

SCHOOLS DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT:
9. Focus on school quality standards
10. Focus on school supervision

Problem 6: Lagging staff and teacher development

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT:
11. A National University of Education
12. An Institute of Professional Staff Development

Problem 7: Inequity in resource availability

SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT:
13. Reorganization of schools development
14. School budgets

Problem 8: Need for effective and efficient implementation of reforms

IMPLEMENTATION REFORMS
15. A system of committees
16. Organizational reforms

With the adoption of these general education reforms in Sri Lanka, there is great potential to achieve and expand new aims and visions for education-shaping not only the future of young school students but also the future of Sri Lanka.