Survival of the fittest? The importance of context-sensitivity in education reform

My ongoing fieldwork on agrarian politics in Sri Lanka is teaching me many things that are not directly related to, but heavily condition what happens in agriculture. I'm learning how the dynamics of everyday domestic life impact agrarian decisions: whether or not the credit taken for agriculture purposes is always actually spent on it; how intimate relationships impact farming activities (who is entering into or refusing labour exchange relations with whom, for instance); and how decisions about children - their nutrition, education, prospects - condition decisions people make about what to cultivate and when, among other things. It is in this context that I noticed many things about Sri Lanka's school education system as it unfolds in the peripheries. My aim in today's piece is to make the case for more inclusive consultative processes and context-specific responses in education reform, in light of these realities.

- BY HASINI LECAMWASAM

Most of my fieldwork is conducted in Welikanda (Polonnaruwa) and Siyambalanduwa (Moneragala). I also paid some visits to Weli Oya (Mullaitivu). Of these, Welikanda and Weli Oya were created under the Mahaweli Development Scheme explicitly for the purpose of forming a 'human shield' against LTTE encroachment.

Siyambalanduwa, even though bordering the East (Ampara), is less of a 'border' area in that sense, although it, too, was exposed to the violence of war. Siyambalanduwa is also largely made up of resettled communities, but most of them had come well before the onset of the war, as part of development projects which were also Sinhala colonisation schemes. All of them, however, are replete with resource scarcity issues, in education and outside of it.

These remote areas are hardly a first choice for teachers looking for placements, resulting in a perennial staff squeeze. Poor infrastructure (water scarcity, dilapidated quarters, etc.) and physical security concerns (elephants, reptiles, etc.) do little to incentivise applicants. A retired principal I spoke to in one of these areas said they had to mostly rely on those with only O/L qualifications to discharge teaching duties at her school because people didn't want to come there, despite it being a national school. Those who do come, she said, seek transfers immediately after the mandatory service period is up.