Transforming Sri Lanka: Catalyst role of education in a holistic growth

Sri Lanka could adapt successful educational policies toward the realisation of vocational aspirations that reaffirm the central role of research, entrepreneurship, and the alignment of education with market demand, much like Finland, Singapore, and Germany. With educational systems aligned with global standards, multinational companies, actively seeking highly qualified employees, may closely align their agendas with Sri Lanka's future prospects. This may encourage a step toward bringing forth such initiatives and nurturing future entrepreneurs who may be less inclined to full-time employment but are focused on diversifying the economic base.

- BY DR. S.G.S. SAMARAWEERA University of Ruhuna [e-mail]

Formal education is considered a structured process that helps individuals acquire knowledge, develop skills, and shape attitudes through instruction, training, research, and experiment. It fosters critical thinking, analytical skills, creative imagination, intellectual maturity, practical competencies, social awareness, and emotional equilibrium. In that sense, education is vital for the development of the economy, society, and governance.

Therefore, a country's education is one of the fundamental factors that influences its future portrayal. In a universal sense, education can somewhat trigger the desired transformation of Sri Lanka, along with her sustainable, inclusive, and holistic development.

A well-streamlined educational system can help shape future leaders by developing their critical thinking, creative imagination, harmonious collaboration, precise communication, and efficient decision-making skills. That is how the products of education can be expected to promote innovation, teamwork, and self-worth while mentoring others to trust in the devolution of power, drive national development, and transform communities. But the education system in Sri Lanka still seems guided largely by rote learning instead of creative and analytic thinking. Education should nurture a leader by building skills critical for their future success in terms of problem-solving, collaboration, communication, and decision-making-and not merely memorization.