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The race for tuition
The A' level examinations are in progress and no longer are the village children offering Political Science, Buddhism and Sinhala Language, but commerce subjects - Accounts, Economics and Statistics too. They want to do Business Management at the university to obtain employment in the commercial sector! After A 'levels they will spend their time learning computer and Spoken English to prepare them for the competitive job market. A lot of money has been expended to get these children thus far.

If policy makers think education is free in this country, the common man is under no such delusion. The rural schools run by the state do not seem to be teaching or disciplining their students. It was reported that in a nearby school, two teenagers were getting a bit out of hand on the playing field. The headmaster walked out trying to bring some law and order into the ensuing chaos. The two main rivals ordered him off the field saying they were capable of handling the situation, and the headmaster is said to have actually backed off. No disciplinary action was taken.

Most of the children in the area attend the nearby village school and then attend one of the tutories in town in the afternoon. When they return home, usually by 6 p.m., they have to get their homework done too before dinnertime. There are two or three tutories, which are in great demand in the town. The parents say the children learn at these institutions and are disciplined! The teachers are strict and there is absolute silence, only broken by an answer to a question asked by the teacher. Each grade runs to about five parallel classes of 30 pupils. Students have to sit an eligibility test and gain the required marks for admission. Fees have to be paid in advance and they are by no means meagre.

The emphasis is on academic perfection. Entrance is from Grade 6 upwards and promotion is on performance. If a student does not get the required percentage to enter the next level, he has to leave the academy. But no students are enrolled in midstream even if there are vacancies. They say the drop-out rate is negligible because the children who attend are keen and hardly miss a class. So ultimately only the best of the lot remain and their success at the O' levels are assured.

Most of the schools are hampered by the lack of teachers. The lack of administrative responsibility on the part of the principal also makes the problem more complex. Children are known to go through a whole school year without textbooks. Why? Because for some reason the school has received only a limited number of textbooks per grade. So only those who are judged the better students in the class receive their books. The others if they can afford it make a photocopy or otherwise do without them.

Teachers, seem to take their responsibilities very lightly. They prefer to teach at their own private tuition class and receive a stipend from the state.

English tutories are proliferating. Parents are encouraging their children to learn English. Most of them can read and understand but they feel diffident in using the language. Children who have received a D for English at the O' levels find it difficult to express their ideas. A 7th grade student says, they get by because the teacher reads the text, and explains it in Sinhala.

Then she proceeds to the questions at the end of the lesson making them underline the answers given in the text.

A friend and I have taken on a group of children, aged 8 -12, to help them gain confidence in using the language. We are not concentrating on grammar at present, but making sure they develop a vocabulary of common everyday words and use them correctly e.g. a plastic pail is not a basket! We're also improving their comprehension and fluency. Our motto is to "keep it simple" and we have asked our students, too, to adopt this phrase.

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