Education reforms are a priority project of the one- year-old National People Power (NPP) government in Sri Lanka. The proposed reforms are primarily aimed at shifting from the “exam centric model” to the “interactive modular based system”. Under this reform program, new curricula are expected to be introduced from grade one and six in 2026. However, the proposed changes have run into severe public criticism after errors were discovered in many lesson modules. The general public is not questioning the need to change the public education system, but are concerned about the appropriateness and accuracy of proposed changes, as well as about the haphazard manner they are sought to be implemented.

An opposition leader queried the government if the proposed education reforms were done based on a proper assessment, and if there is a “white paper” on the proposed changes, when the government tabled the proposed reforms to parliament in mid-2025. Then the government mocked the opposition leader saying that “white papers” are an archaic practice prevalent in eras where white writing papers were scarce, and claimed that there was only a powerpoint presentation on the proposed reforms. The entire education reform agenda appeared to be based on this powerpoint presentation which is reportedly used by Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, who is also the education minister, to educate the stakeholder on the proposed reforms.   

Growing Opposition To Reforms

Public opposition towards the reforms escalated after a web link to a gay dating site was found in one of the lessons in the grade six English language module.  This website was subsequently blocked by the regulator for internet users in Sri Lanka.  The lesson was intended to teach ten-year-old kids how to make online friends. Although the government accepted the responsibility for this blunder, it is yet to provide a credible explanation as to how and why a link to a gay dating site was included in the lesson. The government said it was launching investigations into the matter, but decided to go ahead with the same module after removing pages with reference to the gay dating site.

Even if the link was printed by a mistake, it is somewhat puzzling for parents as to why ten-year-olds are “taught” how to make online friends under the new education reforms? Furthermore, this lesson on making online friends does not include some of the most commonly used conversational items among kids such as “about parents, siblings or pets”. However this lesson, as it appears on the module, asks kids to disclose their body characteristics such as “height” and “weight” in their online profile. This suggests that the format used for this lesson may have been actually inspired by an online dating site!

PM Amarasuriya, who rushed to see Chief Buddhist Clergy in the wake of growing requests for her to step down as education minister, was heard saying that there were “no specific instructions” in the module asking children to use the said dating site although it appears in the module. However, for the general public, it was surprising how this went unnoticed until student modules were printed, and teacher training was completed!

Opposition parliamentarians point that there are hundreds of mistakes and errors in the education modules which are currently public. These mistakes range from “asking grade six students to observe and write down three types of gases they can observe in the environment” in a Science module, to “replacing traditional Buddhist motifs (the Dharma Chakra) with India’s Ashoka Chakra” in the religion module.  Moreover, parents are concerned about a large number of internet links to third party websites and youtube channels in lessons. Some of these links are third party commercial youtube channels.

Parallels Drawn With Agriculture Reforms  

Political analysts are quick to draw parallels between the NPP government’s education reforms to previous Gotabaya Rajapakse government’s agriculture reforms. The Rajapakse government’s agriculture reforms banned the use of chemical fertilizers and allowed only carbonic fertilizer in all forms of agriculture resulting in drastic drop in crop yields. This policy which was introduced without much scientific reasoning or stakeholder consultations was the starting point of the fall of the Rajapakse government.

Nevertheless, the NPP government appears to be in a catch-22 situation on the proposed education reforms. If the government suspends the reforms until a proper assessment is done of the proposed changes, it will be a significant political blow as the decision is going to be seen as a failure or incompetence of the government. If the government goes ahead with the proposed changes, it is likely that the government will face increased opposition and embarrassment as more and more flaws are uncovered in the modules and proposed changes.

The government reversed an earlier decision to expand school time by half an hour as part of the reforms. This extension of time was also seen as a decision without much underlying rationale, and would have put students and parents into significant inconvenience if implemented.

(The author is a Colombo-based independent private market investment advisory professional and a handloom entrepreneur. Views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at indika.h@jupitercapitalpartners.com )