The project will benefit about 4 million schoolchildren at primary and secondary levels
COLOMBO, May 18, 2012 – The government of Sri Lanka and the World Bank signed a $100 million concessional credit to Sri Lanka to enhance access and quality of primary and secondary education to provide a foundation for the knowledge–based economic and social development of the country. Transforming the School Education System as the Foundation of a Knowledge Hub Project (TSEP) will be implemented at the national level by the Ministry of Education and at the provincial level by the Provincial Ministries and Department of Education, with the support of the Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Councils.
The TSEP has three clear themes: supporting initiatives to increase opportunities for children in the age group of 6-10 years to complete primary education and for children in the age group of 11-16 to complete secondary education up to grade 11. The program will support several innovative initiatives to enhance learning out comes and improve the orientation of the education system to the economic development and social needs of the country. It would also help assist the country to empower schools with greater managerial authority and responsibility and to develop the planning, administration and monitoring capacity of the provincial, zonal and divisional levels of the education system.
“The program will help the country develop a foundation for the skills and competencies needed for the global economy of the future, and the ethics and values required for good citizenship in a modern liberal democracy,” said Dr Harsha Aturupane, Lead Education Specialist and Task Team Leader for the project.
The TSEP will directly benefit about 4 million school children, around 215,000 school teachers, 15,000 principals and 3,500 education managers and administrators. Among the 4 million students, there are approximately 1.6 million primary school students and 2.4 million secondary school students.
The TSEP will indirectly benefit school communities of about 10,000 schools, the households of 4 million school children, the contractors of school infrastructure and suppliers of educational equipment, and the academics and researchers who will receive support for research and evaluation activities.
“This country program will not only assist the government to improve the school curriculum to better reflect modern international trends in curriculum practice but also enhance soft skills needed by the children for better jobs in the future and build a value based future generation,” said Diarietou Gaye, Country Director, World Bank, Sri Lanka.
The development initiatives supported by this project enjoy high priority within the general education sector in Sri Lanka.
For more information about this project, please visit: https://projects.worldbank.org/en/projects-operations/project-detail/P113488?lang=en
