Urgent Lessons for Sri Lanka – 2022

By CHANDRA FERNANDO
Educational Consultant, USA

The last few months of this year have been a time of great anxiety and much hardship for the people of Sri Lanka. No matter on which side of the political divide one stands, common problems converge into a cloud of nervousness, unease and uncertainty. Sri Lankans have not had this sort of apprehension and discontent in their lives for centuries. They find themselves at a loss for answers.

After the pandemic, the financial disaster faced by the country has been an enormous burden, and is ultimately the Gordian Knot, which nobody seems to know how to entangle. Perhaps, it is time for everyone to take measures, even small ones, to provide the population with new incentives to handle the gargantuan task of finding relief from these insurmountable difficulties.

It is obvious that things must change in Sri Lanka. Citizens need to take some responsibility for changing some habits formed during colonial periods. They need to modernise ways of doing things to reflect the times in which we live. Everyone should bear responsibility for the maintenance and preservation of national and international norms and the cultural heritage of Sri Lanka. We need to start with some basic changes in behavior.

Transportation-the eye
of the storm

Fuel shortage seems to have brought the country to a standstill. This dependency on fossil fuel must be addressed by all consumers of vehicles used in their daily life. According to statistics, the number of cars in the country rose from 672,502 in 2015 to 875,864 in 2019. Perhaps, this is an area that needs attention. How do we use fewer cars? Is it possible to use carpools for office and school transportation? Is it possible to use bicycles for short distance travel? What about walking? Many countries in Europe have adopted these measures. In places like The Netherlands, children ride bicycles to school. This activity improves the social interaction of children and their physical well-being. Speaking of schools, it is a nightmare to travel in Colombo during school hours. This is worse during the morning rush, lunchtime, and dismissal time.

Organisational Structure

The structure of both the public and private organisations needs some revision. Some of them may be top-heavy. With the use of technology, companies in many countries have been able to streamline their operations. The peon to make afternoon tea is no longer necessary. Every CEO can do his own writing and make use of the skills of word, excel, powerpoint and other technical means that could make him independent. Traveling expenses could be reduced, and time could be better utilised through online communications such as Zoom. These are some things to consider in order to make businesses more effective. Government departments may be the first places to make these changes.

Role of Women

I firmly believe women have an important role to play in the life of a nation. The lack of women parliamentarians, in a country that produced the first lady prime minister, is an embarrassment to Sri Lanka. It is an indignity to those thousands of educated, talented, skillful and brilliant women who work hard to make a difference in the life of Sri Lankans each day. The role of women is a major change that must be undertaken seriously in Sri Lanka. Although Sri Lanka has a gender ratio of around 51%, the elected number of women in Parliament is very low and those in decision making positions remain at only about 5%.

Education

Children are the future of any nation. In recent months, Sri Lankan children have been badly affected by the pandemic, civil unrest and lack of resources and teachers. Their young minds have had to deal with a plethora of opinions, an overabundance of political unrest and a deluge of views through social media. It must be stated that children’s mental health must be protected, just as much as their physical well-being. For the first time UNICEF has declared children in Sri Lanka as being malnourished.

George Laryea-Adjei, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, made the following observation after visiting Sri Lanka in August 2022:

“Sri Lanka, a country normally known for its rapid economic growth and booming tourism, is experiencing its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. Families are skipping regular meals as staple foods become unaffordable. Children are going to bed hungry, unsure of where their next meal will come from – in a country which already had South Asia’s second highest rate of severe acute malnutrition.

“Almost half of children in Sri Lanka already require some form of emergency assistance. The education of 4.8 million children, already severely hampered by two years of interrupted learning, is at risk, as school attendance continues to be jeopardized. Children’s education is being hindered by the current crisis in many ways—children no longer get the warm and nutritious meal that they used to have before the crisis, they lack basic stationery, and their teachers struggle with transportation.”

This is the ultimate tragedy. Sri Lankans must wake up and take care of the children. The need for medicine, food and education must be on top of the list of all essential requirements. People need to make sacrifices for the sake of children. All politicians, educators, religious leaders, and ordinary citizens should unite to save the children.

Nourishing the body of a child is not nearly enough. Mental, emotional and social nourishment are equally important. During this time of a great upheaval in Sri Lanka, we need to stress the importance of educating the young with a focus on reforming the educational process. In addition to academic work, young people need to learn the value of kindness, empathy, and peaceful co-existence. They need to be stewards of the environment.

Dr. Maria Montessori, the quintessential educator once remarked, “….it follows that, if we wish to alter the habits and customs of a country, or if we wish to accentuate more vigorously the characteristics of a people, we must take as our instrument, the child, for very little can be done in this direction by acting upon adults. To change a generation or nation, to influence it towards good, to reawaken religion and add culture, we must look to the child, who is omnipotent. The truth of this has been demonstrated of late by Nazis and Fascists, who changed the character of whole peoples by working on children.”

At another level, it is not too late to seek the support of all citizens of Sri Lanka to join in a national chorus of the words made famous by President John F. Kennedy when he articulated his famous saying: “Do not ask what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country!”