Moulding a complete citizen through comprehensive and meaningful education

Lessons my mother taught me

By Desamanya K H J Wijayadasa, former Secretary to the President

Education can be defined as the imparting of systematic instruction aimed at intellectual and moral upliftment as well as the development of character. Martin Luther King has defined education as follows. (I quote) “The function of education is to teach one to think critically. Intelligence plus character; that is the goal of education.” (Unquote). Traditionally education was by and large relegated to book learning and passing of examinations. Over the years education has evolved as an all encompassing, comprehensive and meaningful science which is aimed at moulding a complete citizen of high learning, sound morals and strength of character.

However, we should not forget the fact that the primary objective of education is imparting knowledge. Knowledge thus gained enables a person to practice a remunerative and worthy profession in addition to realizing the full potential of a human being. Even though Sri Lanka is lagging behind in comprehensive and meaningful education, we have achieved a 92 percent literacy rate, universal primary education, gender parity and free education including at tertiary level. This means that Sri Lanka should have a high proportion of literate, numerate, well groomed and capable young people ready to take on the world and deliver to every given specification.

But, unfortunately, this is not so. The present education system faces several major challenges related to poor quality, mismatch of curriculum with existing labour market demands, lack of trained teachers, inefficient administration and worst of all turning out half baked misfits rather than well rounded complete citizens who have gone through the mill of comprehensive and meaningful education.

The whole education system of Sri Lanka appears to be stagnating in a quagmire of indecision and confusion. While many countries have moved on to progressive teaching methods that enable children to think and make independent decisions, children in Sir Lanka still learn by rote or committing to memory and regurgitation or ruminating at examinations from memory. It is high time that Sri Lanka discarded this archaic system and replaced it with the more widely accepted system of guiding children to acquire knowledge and valuable skills through observation, enquiry and experimentation.

Also, the archaic educational system which caters largely to the study of languages, arts subjects and aesthetics should be scaled down paving the way for a shift to technical, scientific, technological, vocational and electrodynamics studies. English and Information Technology should be made compulsory subjects at the secondary level in order to keep pace with the rest of the world.

The more progressive educationists are of the view that examinations which are designed to judge a student’s ability by stating memorized facts should not be the sole method of assessing a student’s ability. Instead only the core subjects should be tested and the rest assessed through assignment work thus enlarging their thinking capacity. School education should include social and emotional training and personal development. The rationale being that, if children learn to manage their own inner selves, they will become reasonable people in their own communities.

Further, education when it is stereotyped and mechanical, can be boring and monotonous. There should be a lot of variety in course content and flexibility in the selection of subjects. In addition to book learning and passing examinations every child should be encouraged to participate in extra curricular activities such as athletics, sports, scouting and cadeting as well as literary and aesthetic activities.

In addition, the active participation of children in travel, recreation and interaction with the environment surely would inculcate qualities of patience, tolerance, team spirit and the noble quality of give and take in them.

Moulding a complete citizen through comprehensive and meaningful education is certainly neither the sole preserve nor the responsibility of teachers alone. In this endeavour the role of parents is a lot more critical. Normally, a child is admitted to school at the age of six years. Accordingly, a child spends the first five years in the sole care and custody of his/her parents. According to psychologists 90 per cent of the brain development of a child takes place during these early years. Therefore, it is the prime responsibility of parents to inculcate in the child good values and norms, good habits and manners, sound ethics and principles as well as basic skills and aptitudes of life during these early formative years.

It is also the bounden duty and responsibility of both parents and teachers to inculcate in children the noble qualities of patriotism, equality, benevolence, generosity as well as the virtues of caring and sharing. They should also ensure character building by infusing elements of honesty, integrity, truthfulness, self reliance and frugal living. The spiritual, cultural, social and aesthetic advancement of a child is as important as his or her academic and professional development. This is where parents have to play a major role.

It has been said that it is every woman’s wish to marry a handyman. Therefore, every child should be afforded the opportunity of learning basic vocational skills especially masonry, carpentry, plumbing and electricity. I remember attending such practical training classes during my primary school days, but unfortunately all this is history. It has been found that engaging in practical work enhances brain development, especially thinking capacity.

In conclusion, I wish to emphatically state that comprehensive and meaningful education is the foundation for success and stability in life. In this endeavor, undoubtedly the role of parents is critical and indispensable. It is they who can make or break the onward march of a child to realizing the full potential of comprehensive and meaningful education. I still carry nostalgic memories of a Sinhala verse which my mother drilled into me repeatedly from my very young days on the virtues of education which drove me in to take to studies diligently. This is how it went:

‘‘අල්ලට සිඟාවත් රස නැති කැවිලි කකා

කල්ගිය රෙදි වැරලි ඇඳ දැළි කුණෙන් වකා

වල්කොල බිම අතුල නිදි නොලැබ දුක්කකා

ඇල්මෙන් අකුරු උගනිව් ඉදිරි වැඩ තකා”

The English rendering of this verse is as follows:

“Begging for food and surviving on tasteless meals,

Donning discarded clothes full of dirt and grime,

Sleeping in discomfort stretched on a bed of leaves,

Learn the lessons diligently to ensure a better tomorrow”.

Last but not the least, I attribute my successful journey in life through the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, Oxford University and the now defunct Ceylon Civil Service to the highest Administrative position in Sri Lanka of Secretary to the President largely to my mother and father who were both trained teachers. They knew exactly how to teach, what to teach and when to teach. All the knowledge they imparted is still enshrined in my mind. It is retrievable at any time. That’s the beauty of their teaching.