Key words: lower-middle income country, education, impact on girls

Research question: How can we improve the current situation with respect to education in Sri
Lanka?

1.1 Background / reason for choosing this topic:

- current status of the Sri Lankan Education System:

Questionnaire- unicef education sector budget brief

acc to income bracket how much do they spend on education? – HIES
Eg: demographics of the households/ urban or rural

 1] how much of GDP does sl currently spend on education?

 2] how much compared to our peers?

 3] Graph on the amt spent for education in sl throughout the years and how much of it is
specific to women and girls?

- global statistics showing the lack of spending and awareness for the education of young
women and girls.

Other external factors that lead to disruption of education ( especially in public sector ):
teachers strikes , lack of proper assessment and/or pushing for quick assessments when
students are clearly not ready/ anxious/ syllabus not effectively covered)
( https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED609894.pdf -Nepal case study)

1.2Significance/ purpose/ why this issue branches out into many other similarly dire
issues:

-schooling is not only a means of education but may be a meal for most children in low income
households, spiraling effects- malnutrition , lack of food security
(https://www.ips.lk/talkingeconomics/2020/06/09/no-school-no-meals-sri-lankas-battle-
against-child-malnutrition-amidst-covid-19/)
MoEducation website UNICEF Sl website how successful is that?
-Digital learning creates inequality in access to education further dividing the facilities
available to students in rural areas compared to urban areas in Sri Lanka.
( Input statistics of % of students with access to internet in rural areas/ schools with the
capacity to hold online classes)
-High drop-out rates (many parents have lost their jobs due to the pandemic and their
economic crisis has worsened than ever before. Therefore, it is likely that some parents may
not be able to afford their children to attend school (or university)and children may need to
work to provide economic support)
(from Nepal case study)
(https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED609894.pdf)
- It is a much more pressing problem for young women ang girls: Sexual and reproductive
rights are highly compromised in this lockdown as girls are unable to leave home to seek
safety from their abusers. It has been reported by UNESCO’s COVID-19 Global Education
Coalition that teenage pregnancy across sub-Saharan Africa could increase by as much as
65% as a result of school closures because of the COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerability to
sexual violence. https://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/effects-covid-pandemic-girls-
education (Zimbabwe-also a lower-middle income country)

A threefold increase in calls to women’s shelters in China at the height of the quarantine, A
nationwide spike of 30% in domestic violence in France.
https://gbvguidelines.org/wp/wp-
content/uploads/2020/05/covid_19_impact_on_girls_3_.pdf

1.3 Research design/methodology

 Secondary research – current policies

1.4 Comparison with other lower-middle income countries and how can we learn from
them?
Current policies – improve
 lower-middle income countries -Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Morocco,
Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Tanzania, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
 Despite additional funding needs, two-thirds of low- and lower-middle-income countries
have, in fact, cut their public education budgets since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic,
according to the new joint World Bank – UNESCO Education Finance Watch (EFW). 
(https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2021/02/22/two-thirds-of-poorer-
countries-are-cutting-education-budgets-due-to-covid-19)

1.5 Solutions to the problem : international organizations : world bank, UNICEF