When Covid Brings Us Hard Lessons In A Teacup!

School education coming to a standstill in Sri Lanka can be viewed from many angles. The word standstill can be too harsh for people supporting this government. But what other best word can describe a situation where students who are studying are told that exams are postponed indefinitely? This is the scenario with the Ordinary Level Examination, which was scheduled to begin on January 18, 2021.

- Ravi Nagahawatte

What’s evident is that the state controls the speed at which knowledge flows to students

A state would have it tough if people educate themselves in double-quick time

Most regimes went slow in finding solutions to grievances of undergrads

There is also no allocation in the new Budget to settle teacher related issues

If one studies the education system in the country and how the government manages it, what’s evident is that the state controls the speed at which knowledge flows into the minds of the students and academics. A state would have it tough if people educated themselves in double quick time. We say the internet is a useful tool to speed up education. But check the internet download speed offered by service providers, including the state run Sri Lanka Telecom; it’s low as 16mbps and could drop even as low as 8mbps. This could look pathetic if a comparison is made with other internet using countries like Hong Kong (54.1), Taiwan (85.2), Singapore (70.86) and Japan (42.77). The figures here indicate internet speed. And you bring the internet speed offered in Sweden to the equation, which is 500mbps, you see a figure which blows away other service providers in Asia.

There are days when university lectures are disrupted due to strikes. Most regimes ‘went slow’ in finding solutions to the grievances of undergraduates just to control them.