The Fundamental Right to ‘Free Education’

The Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickremasinghe MP stated on Wednesday, 4^th July in Parliament that if an Amendment was introduced in Parliament, enshrining in the Constitution, the Right to Education as a Fundamental Right, that his party will support the Amendment.

It is significant that this extremely important statement received scant attention from the Government benches, perhaps because no one really understands that term, as most people in the Government appear to display ignorance or lack of schooling and will be put to shame if there are actually educated people around, thanks to this Fundamental Right.

I do not know the real reason, but either way, it is a landmark that the Youth of today must consider adopting as one of their goals in Sri Lanka. This amendment will then safeguard free education, at least till the A levels, and will be the responsibility of the Government in power to provide.

While Private Education will always thrive in a society that becomes increasingly prosperous, the right will still remain to ensure a basic standard of state education, free of charge until the A levels. The increasing trend to private education in the primary and secondary sector, to say nothing of the tertiary sector will reduce the pressure on the state system, and also release funds to improve its quality, by syllabus revision, lower class sizes and improved quality of teachers in the public sector.

I recommend that a ‘Youth Lobby’ be set up for at least lobbying the lawmakers to think about introducing and passing this amendment without delay. It will at a stroke, prevent the Govt. from taking arbitrary steps to reduce the value of free education, by providing fewer facilities both of quality teaching staff, of equipment and infrastructure to drive students away to private education.

In order to market this concept, one must highlight the current trend in education, which with the Z score fiasco, gives little confidence to students and parents about the quality and desirability of Public Education. It is important that in the amendment some basic quality standards are adhered to prevent students from falling behind and not completing their basic education, as it will impinge on their future, which they will not know of until it is too late. It is important that someone takes the initiative now.