Pay your teachers more

By Upali Ratnayake

Today 4.2 million children attend 10,012 schools and another 128,000 attend 104 private schools. There is a total of 235,000 teachers.Some of these schools are considered very good and so many wish to enter them. Most of the good schools have a history of well over a century. There are schools such as D.S Senanayake and Mahanama which were established recently but came into prominence within a very short period.

A popular school has several advantages.

1. A prominent and sometimes overzealous set of old boys providing the school with resources and influence. The funds that the Government cannot give will be found by them. They have access to prominent personalities.

2. Parents who are professionals or affluent. They are able to afford all their children’s requirements. Their children will have an advantage when applying for jobs, scholarships, and places in teams.

3. It has traditions, an ethos, processes and accepted practices. For instance a sports event will take on a national character. It will also be a source of revenue.

4. They will have a good location, good infrastructure playing fields and swimming pools, buses and vans for the transport of children, boarding houses and all the required teachers. Teachers would be reluctant to leave because of the many advantages that accrue to them. Students will have a permanent staff which is helpful in acquiring good exam results and bringing about good discipline.

5. Children will have opportunity to engage in the more elite and expensive pursuits such as being members of clubs and societies, of learning an extra foreign language, learning and the use of technology, of learning music and learning to play musical instruments, engaging in drama, the cinema, photography, and playing games and taking part in exercises such as tennis and gymnastics.

6. Children will have access to better health facilities and to better food. They will have better creature comforts.

In order to make all schools of the same good quality, the Government will have a long and arduous task. It is near impossible to duplicate all opportunities in the less-privileged schools. At best more buildings and classrooms could be built. Therefore the rush to enter good schools will continue unabated. 

In this rush, parents and children will continue to lie, to produce fraudulent documents, try to access prominent individuals, pay exorbitant sums, and if all fails, resort to litigation. No amount of rules and regulations will help those who wish to enter these schools. We must weigh this against the citizen’s inalienable right to the best education in the country.

The right to education is reflected in international law in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 13 and 14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Article 26 states: «Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.» Herein is also enshrined the parent›s right. Sri Lanka is a signatory to these articles and thus must ensure that these articles are observed.

What then can a government do to ease public demand for good schools? One answer that the public itself has found is privatisation of education. There are now about 36 international schools in the country. These charge fees and encourage the use of English as a medium of teaching. They prepare children for foreign examinations. There is a strong practice of private tuition which the children of specially the Government schools and private schools make use of. Schools are gradually therefore becoming places of «teaching for money». Entrance donations at Grade 1 is in fact a levy for future education.

The Government however cannot and will not allow unbridled privatisation because the gap that already exists between the haves and the have-nots will naturally widen.

It is imperative for the Government to spend more money in the system. In its latest budget Rs. 461 billion was allocated for all education. However of this Rs. 121 billion is for what is known as capital carrying costs. The public do not understand as to what this is. However the allocation this year has increased.

There must be a substantial increase in teachers› salary. Everyone knows they are paid poorly. It will be possible to attract better teachers and the current teachers will work with more commitment. Significantly less men are attracted to the profession. 

Dr. Jayantha Balasooriya, Deputy Director of Education, gives the following statistics for 2010:

Male teachers 62,245 = 28.81%

Female teachers 153,773 = 71.16%

Total teachers for 2010 = 216,081

Of course 86% of teachers in the primary section are female.

There is a major situation that arises in a boys› school when 71% of teachers are female. The issue of a male role model, handling male-dominated sports, taking boys on excursions, and enforcing tough disciplinary controls are issues that a head of a school may face.

Teaching needs to be made attractive. The Government has to spend on perquisites to attract teachers. These may include education abroad, opportunity to write books, and the offer of medical, travel and other benefits from the State. They must be encouraged to make teacher groups. For this purpose the Government can maintain a building with subsidised food and other services where teachers could spend time on educational matters or relax with friends. It is hoped that teachers from Visakha and Royal, C.W.W. Kannangara and St. Matthew›s will come to share their thoughts.

The highly-centralised system prevalent kills the initiative of both the teacher and the pupil. No teacher now attempts to write books for the classrom. All textbook writing is the duty of a committee. Therefore we do not have today the H.D Sugathapalas, the S.F de Silvas, the P. Reuban Peiris›s, Joshua and Pullimuds, and the C.M Weeraratnes. We are all the more poorer for this. Government has to pay more attention to the human resources in the system for a positive outcome.

In addition the gifted student is uncared for and not catered to. He will continue amongst the majority average children without an opportunity to exhibit his genius.

Increased payments will be accompanied by higher responsibility. Teachers will spend a fuller day at school, engage students in more activity, prepare themselves more thoroughly and seek the student›s welfare at all times. They will be willing if only the country will treat them with greater respect.

In order to make all schools of the same good quality, the Government will have a long and arduous task. It is near impossible to duplicate all opportunities in the less-privileged schools. Here, kids in the hill country going to school – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

(The writer can be reached via email address [email protected].)