Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya has delivered the Bishop Cyril Abeynayake Memorial Lecture at the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour, addressing a distinguished gathering on the theme, “Shaping the Future of Education in 21st Century Sri Lanka and Beyond.”
Attending the memorial ceremony at the invitation of the Bishop of Colombo, Rt. Rev. Dushantha Rodrigo, the Prime Minister highlighted Sri Lanka’s rich tradition of multi-faith collaboration and plurality, as embodied by the Anglican Church.
In her address, the Prime Minister re-evaluated the historical trajectory of Sri Lanka’s educational policy, the PM’s Office said.
She referenced the landmark 1971 ILO Seers Report, which diagnosed the country’s economic challenges through the lens of a “skills mismatch” and the “queuing phenomenon” associated with public sector employment, the statement said.
The Prime Minister noted that, although decades of subsequent reforms heavily favoured STEM, technical education, and “soft skills” in response to market demands, these initiatives have failed to resolve the underlying structural crises.
The Prime Minister urged a return to the foundational principles of the Kannangara Reforms (1943–1947), emphasizing that free education was never intended merely to train a future labour force for corporate interests. Rather, its visionary purpose was to cultivate politically aware, morally grounded, and critically engaged citizens essential to a robust democracy, the PM’s Office added.
“Education was expected to produce the kinds of citizens required for a newly independent democratic nation-state,” the Prime Minister stated, noting that early elite resistance to free education sought to limit the social mobility of the rural poor.
The Prime Minister identified five fundamental crises that the proposed state reforms seek to address directly, according to the statement.
These include the widening gap between elite and non-elite educational institutions, noting that even state-owned elite schools continue to reproduce societal privilege; the historical failure to nurture politically mature, analytical, and socially responsible citizens envisioned by post-independence reformers; the stark disconnect between women’s strong academic performance and their comparatively low labour force participation, constrained by an unequal burden of domestic care work; the urgent need to keep pace with rapid technological disruptions driven by industry and market logic, particularly the rise of artificial intelligence; and the shift from viewing education as a transformative life experience to treating it as a transactional pursuit centred solely on paper qualifications.
The Prime Minister emphasized that adapting to AI requires deep systemic transformation, enhanced digital literacy, and strengthened online safety measures, rather than superficial curriculum adjustments alone.
Expanding on the path forward, the Prime Minister stressed that meaningful educational reform cannot be achieved merely by revising curricula; rather, it requires a comprehensive transformation of structures, institutions, and the broader teaching and learning environment, the statement added.
She outlined the cultural shift required across the entire education ecosystem. For students, education should open expansive pathways and opportunities rather than narrow their horizons.
Young people, she stated, should be inspired and energized by learning rather than burdened by it. For parents, the system must rebuild trust so that they can confidently rely on educational institutions to act in the best interests of their children, moving away from an atmosphere of suspicion. She further emphasized that teaching must be restored as a respected and prestigious profession, chosen for its transformative impact rather than viewed merely as a “fallback” or “safe” career option.
The Prime Minister stated that the ultimate goal of educational reform is to cultivate respected leaders across all sectors, including religion, the economy, politics, the arts, and community life, whom citizens can admire and trust, the statement added.
Reaffirming the Government’s vision, the Prime Minister concluded by stating that education is fundamentally about understanding the world more deeply in order to transform it, a task that can only be achieved when society remains engaged in courageous and meaningful dialogue with one another.
