Category Archives: 2023 Activities

Discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and other identity is a prevalent  issue in Sri Lanka, especially within the educational system as Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country. The Coalition for Educational Development (CED) has undertaken a Youth Action Research to observe this deeply rooted problem. This study has four primary objectives, as bellows; The research aims to

•  gather comprehensive data on the prevalence of racism and identity-based discrimination. 
• scrutinize the existing legal framework, policies, and government initiatives pertaining to combatting discrimination in education. 
• investigate the social, economic, and psychological impact of discrimination on marginalized youth. 
• develop actionable recommendations by collaborating with relevant stakeholders and affected communities to formulate policies, awareness campaigns, and community-based initiatives that can effectively combat racism and discrimination.

The target community of this study includes Tamil, Muslim, Sinhala, Disabled, Plantation, and LGBTIQ communities, reflecting the diversity of identities affected by discrimination in Sri Lanka. 

Data gathered by conducting face to face interviews and as a part of this study CED conducted a deep analysis on government gaps in implementing policies. These issues include inadequate enforcement mechanisms, insufficient resource allocation, and limited outreach efforts. Unequal access to quality education for Tamil, Muslim, and Sinhala students, disparities in resources and facilities, biased curriculum content, and cultural insensitivity could be observed as issues encountered by marginalized youth in various education entities. Recommendations derived from the studies listed below. 

• Train teachers and headmasters to respect ethnic and religious diversity and identify different sexual orientations.
• Strengthen evaluation and monitoring mechanisms to track discrimination incidents and teacher responses.
• Implement programs to raise awareness among children about diverse ethnic and religious identities
• Teach the importance of respecting others, regardless of physical appearance or social conditions, starting from preschool and continuing through formal education.
• Review and revise textbooks and curriculum content that may demean certain ethnic groups.
• Promote dignity and reconciliation in educational materials.
• Establish multi-ethnic/multi-religious schools to foster inter-community harmony.
• Implement national-level campaigns to promote equity and non-discrimination among teachers and students.

The Coalition for Educational Development (CED) recently conducted its Annual General Meeting (AGM) after a three-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on May 27, 2023, at the Community Learning Centre in Matale with the participation of 38 member organizations from 18 districts. One of the significant moments of the AGM was the appointment of a new Board of Directors for the next two years and we are honored to announce that Mr. I M Chandana Bandara was re-elected as Chairman, a position he had previously held with distinction. Mr. K D Peeris, selected as the new Secretary, and Mr. Chaminda Piyasekara, re-elected as Treasurer.
Before the election the Chairman presented the Annual Meeting Report and the Treasurer delivered the Annual Audit Report from 2019-2021 underscoring CED’s unwavering commitment to ethical and responsible governance. By facilitating the collective vision for sustainability, CED member organizations actively contributed suggestions and ideas to ensure the coalition’s enduring impact on educational development in Sri Lanka.
The Annual General Meeting of 2023 marked a shared commitment and re-emphasised the responsibilities of Civil Society Organizations to achieving the Sustainable education goal by 2030 embracing the challenges of the past and opportunities of the future.

Under the Global Action Week for Education (GAWE) campaign 2023, CED Member organization had met number of Parliamentarians in different locations of the country and submitted a Civil society proposal emphasizing the need of allocating more funding for education and demanding tax revision on the education materials. In this initiative they were able meet number of MPs and photos of some meeting/discussion are given below. GAWE is an international event that demands to promote and protect right to education. The theme of the this year campaign is Decolonization of Education and CED Sri Lanka localized this theme, appropriate to the Sri Lankan context as “Invest on Education – Save the future”

Global Action Week for Education (GAWE) is one of the most important events for the education movement worldwide. The GAWE is celebrated annually, and in this year the campaign completes 20 years, embracing the slogan “Investing in a Just World: Decolonising Education Financing Now!”.  As a member of GCE, Coalition for Educational Development join hand with GCE to celebrate GAWE in Sri Lanka. Localizing international this year them of the campaign ” Decolonizing the education finance now” CED Sri Lanka planned  to implement the a National level campaign focusing the Impact of the “Economic crisis on the education systems and education financing”

Sri Lanka’s education resources were predominantly funded through domestic resources (2015 and 2021) Approximately 97% domestic and only 3% is funded by foreign resources (66% loans)  Allocation for education as a percentage of GDP is less that 2% and the Education budgets have been decreasing from the year 2019 and similar trend could be seen in the 2021 and 2022. (Rs 540 billion in 2023 budget)

At the same time although the budget has been allocated – the funds has not being provided or delayed – the ultimate result of this situation is there is no sufficient time frame to implement the planned activities.

According to the agreement signed with  IMF, the government has made structural changes in Tax administration,  Vat and PAYE tax  has been increased.  These changes have resulted in a mass exodus of doctors, engineers, university professors, white collar and skilled workers.

Recent studies reveled that a high number of households — more than 60 % — are adopting negative measures to obtain food, including borrowing money and purchasing food on credit, skipping meals or purchasing substandard foods (WFO). Further inadequate funding for the school mid-day meal programme resulted in mal nutrition (42.2 percent of children under the ages of 5 are in poverty, out of which 33.4 percent are suffering from malnutrition( UNICEF 2022). Transport cost has been dramatically increased and this has led to negative impact on school attendance – dropped out rates increased. The cost of the stationaries and other educational materials has been continually increased and the tuition fees  have been doubled in the past two years period.

All these factors have made significant negative impact on the entire education system in Sri Lanka and the authorities should implement the remedial measures as soon as possible to ensure the quality and inclusiveness of education.   To raise the awareness of the public and draw the attention of the authorities CED Sri Lanka launch a campaign demanding tax revision and providing subsidiaries/concession for the students specially for the disadvantage communities.

Under this objective CED conducted following interventions

Social/Media and print media campaign using cartoons and New paper advertisement on tax justice

Meeting the parliamentarians with the evidence based data and submitting civil society proposal

Conducting an awareness raising programme for the youth representatives of 18 Districts on Impact of tax on Education