The Hon. (Dr.) (Ms.) Kaushalya Ariyarathne

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, today is important and historic. Education is not just a policy area; it is central to our nation’s focus. Therefore, reform is historic, and I am glad to participate.

¶ 02 Let me outline the conceptual framework and brief history of these reforms. We inherited a colonial education legacy. At the end of that era, C.W.W. Kannangara brought free education and a national education concept. Yet, many subsequent reforms remained within a colonial frame, albeit with anti-colonial sentiment. We still discuss education within that frame.

¶ 03 We must embrace “Head, Heart, and Hands”: change knowledge and thinking (Head), values (Heart), and skills and capabilities (Hands).

¶ 04 These reforms are not personally owned by any one leader. The National People’s Power conducted consultations for years from 2019 to early 2024 with a large group of experts; the policy platform “A Prosperous Country – A Beautiful Life” reflects that conceptual framework. We do not view education as charity—as in the 1960s model of philanthropists funding schools—but as a right of the people and a core responsibility of the State.

¶ 05 Past reform attempts—1972, 1981, 1999, 2015, 2023—often opened doors to privatization, even pushing universities toward self-funding and diluting state responsibility. We opposed that and have altered both strategic structure and content in our reforms. As the Deputy Minister said, this is an open process; constructive input on curricular content is welcome. Today’s launch is a beginning, not a closed end.

¶ 06 Do not reduce this to a debate over one or two subjects or compulsory lists; look at the systemic, structural transformation and its outcomes.

¶ 07 Yesterday, the Oversight Committee on Physical and Human Resources in Schools—of which I am Chair—met. A top agenda item was aligning resource reforms with educational reforms. This is not merely curricular; it is about quantitative and qualitative development of the whole system.

¶ 08 Our six guiding principles—already in our manifesto—are: free education and equal access; relevance to human development and employability; an education system acceptable to all; producing socially responsible citizens; sustainability and innovation; and lifelong learning.

¶ 09 Key points: - Reform is necessary—this is widely accepted across parties and society. - We must consider global trends: moving away from rote learning and timed cramming toward student-centred, institutional, and pedagogical changes—even down to classroom organization. - Align with national development needs. We currently allocate Rs. 619 billion to education, and we believe it is still insufficient; allocations must rise progressively. - Public expectations remain tied to Kannangara’s unfinished agenda: equal opportunity from pre-school to university regardless of parental means.

¶ 10 Let us not cherry-pick issues but advance comprehensive reform as a collective, with contributions from Opposition and civil society—parents, educationists, and teachers.