The Hon. Sunil Rajapaksha

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, history shows Sri Lankans have struggled for change—in 1971, 1989, and as recently as 2022—seeking not only political but comprehensive socio-economic and cultural change. If we want change, we must shape the citizen, and that begins in education. As Nelson Mandela said, education is the most powerful weapon to change the world.

¶ 02 We must understand global trends; the next generations will live in a global society. Today’s Grades 1–10 are largely Gen Alpha and Gen Z. 2025 marks the birth of Gen Beta who will enter schools by 2030; Gen Gamma will follow by 2045, Gen Delta by 2060. If we reform, it must be with a deep understanding of their future world—how production and consumption will work globally, and their behavioural patterns.

¶ 03 Many classrooms still reflect an Archimedean-era design—unsuited to Gen Z and Alpha. If we keep the same system, we cannot stop dropouts after Grade 6. We must align with their visual, digital, mobile, social, and global identities. From 2025, we have begun a work plan to reform accordingly.

¶ 04 The modern learner must explore knowledge, create knowledge, and share knowledge. We must teach and provide facilities and assessment systems aligned to knowledge exploring, creating, and sharing. Today’s learners prefer self-learning, gamification, inquiry-based learning, problem solving, creativity—blended modes—so not everything can be taught traditionally.

¶ 05 We also face infrastructure gaps: only about 1,813 schools have smart boards; 1,619 secondary schools lack internet; around 4,923 schools lack laptops/tablets; 160 zone offices lack internet; 80 schools have no desktop computers. Despite these deficits, we are proceeding by establishing a dedicated task force for digital transformation in education to gradually equip schools and build the education needed for Alpha, Z, and the forthcoming Beta and Delta generations.

¶ 06 Thank you.