Policy of standardization

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Some information in this article or section is not attributed to sources and may not be reliable.
Please check for inaccuracies, and modify and cite sources as needed.

The policy of standardization law was passed by the Sri Lankan parliament in 1971 in order to rectify disparities created in university enrolment under Colonial rule.

1 The reasoning for the law
2 The effect of the law
3 The implimentation of the law
4 See also

[edit] The reasoning for the law

Under the British, English was the state language and consequently greatly benefited English speakers. However the majority of Sri Lankan populace lived outside urban areas and did not belong to the social elite, and therefore did not enjoy the benefits of English-medium education. The issue was compounded further by the fact that in Northern and Eastern regions of the island, where a largely Tamil and Muslim populace resided, students had access to English-medium education through missionary schools regardless of their socio-economy strata. This created a situation where a large proportion of students enrolled in universities throughout the country were English speaking Tamils, particularly in professional courses such as medicine and engineering.

[edit] The effect of the law

The government policy of standardization in essence was an affirmative action scheme to assist geographically disadvantaged students to gain tertiary education. The benefits enjoyed by Sinhalese students also meant a significant fall in the number of Tamil students within the Sri Lankan university student populace. This was an affirmative action program to help the majority Sinhalese who had been sidelined during European colonial times due to a consistent policy of divide and conquer by the Europeans; who had promoted the minority Tamils and lower-caste Sinhalese Chirstians over the Sinhalese Buddists and the Muslims due to the latters' obedience and propensity to accept Christianity and foreign rule more willingly.

This naturally led to resentment by the Tamils who were reluctant to lose their favored status.

[edit] The implimentation of the law

30% of university places were allocated on the basis of island-wide merit; half the places were allocated on the basis of comparative scores within districts and an additional 15% reserved for students from under privileged districts.