Reimagining Sri Lankan Education for a Just and Compassionate Future

Photo courtesy of Lanka Kade

The debate around meritocracy has resurfaced globally. In his penetrating essay, How the Ivy League Broke America, David Brooks reveals how the US’s 20th century shift from aristocratic privilege to academic meritocracy meant to democratise opportunity ultimately birthed a new elite, more insular and stratified than its predecessor[1]. Intelligence became the sole yardstick of worth. Standardised testing, SAT scores and Ivy League credentials created a cognitive caste that fractured US society and alienated those left behind.

Sri Lanka now faces a similar moment of reckoning. An educational system once admired for its egalitarianism and broad access has begun to reproduce the very hierarchies it was designed to dismantle. Privilege is increasingly disguised as merit; intelligence is measured narrowly while civic, ethical and emotional dimensions are overlooked. A generation is emerging that is alienated from community, environment and moral purpose.

This article proposes that the education system be reoriented towards humane and civic values integrating compassion, justice, ecological consciousness and democratic responsibility into the framework of success. Such a transformation has the potential to produce not only more engaged citizens but also stronger institutional integrity, restored sovereignty and greater resistance to corruption.

The legacy and the limits

In 1945, C. W. W. Kannangara’s free education reforms were a radical act of democratisation. These reforms dismantled colonial era privilege and created new pathways for village youth to access university education, professional careers and political participation. Education functioned as the principal ladder of social mobility – Sri Lanka’s analogue to the transformation James Conant later attempted in the US [2].

Over time, however, that ladder became a bottleneck. National examinations such as the GCE O’Level and A’Level began to function more as rigid filters than as gateways. The tuition industry commodified learning while university degrees became symbols of competition in a winner takes all system. Students from rural districts, Tamil medium schools and plantation communities remain structurally disadvantaged. Narrow definitions of ability based largely on test performance now determine opportunity. As private tuition became a lucrative path to wealth, many government schoolteachers began to treat their formal teaching responsibilities perfunctorily. Their primary energy shifted to after school tutoring, often inaccessible to poorer students, deepening the divide between the educational haves and have-nots.

Lessons from the US experience

David Brooks identifies six systemic failures in the US model of meritocracy that resonate strongly within the Sri Lankan context [3]:

Overreliance on intelligence: Memorisation and IQ-based testing are prioritised while creativity, empathy and moral reasoning receive limited attention.

School success mistaken for life success: Students proficient in exams often lack real world problem solving skills, collaborative ability or civic awareness.

Structural bias in favour of wealth: Children from affluent backgrounds, particularly those in international or English medium institutions, enjoy disproportionate access to university education.

Educational caste stratification: A widening chasm separates the urban, English speaking elite from Sinhala and Tamil medium students in rural and working class settings.

Psychological fragility: Constant performance pressure fosters risk aversion and identity insecurity even among high achievers.

Populist backlash: Disaffection among the excluded majority increases the likelihood of political instability and societal resentment.

Reimagining education in Sri Lanka

To avoid replicating the failures evident in the US experience, the concept of merit must be broadened. An effective education system should value compassion, ecological awareness, civic responsibility, curiosity and moral resilience, not merely cognitive efficiency.

The primary objective of education should be the cultivation of responsible, socially conscious citizens who respect constitutional law and democratic principles, value human dignity and the rights of non-human life, defend environmental sustainability and biodiversity, oppose corruption and uphold national sovereignty and promote inclusive and equitable development.

Curricular and structural reforms

Civics and ethics: Introduce case-based learning on rule of law, constitutional values and democratic governance.

Environment and animals: Embed ecological literacy and animal welfare education throughout school curricula.

Assessment methods: Complement high stakes exams with portfolios, civic projects and collaborative work.

Vocational education: Elevate technical and skills-based education through policy incentives and cultural recognition.

Language equity: Reduce the divide between English medium privilege and vernacular disadvantage through trilingual models.

Teacher development: Strengthen emotional intelligence, civic dialogue and mentorship capacities within the teaching profession.

Towards a humane meritocracy

A meritocratic order grounded in humanistic values should prioritise the following traits:

Curiosity: The disposition to explore, question and critically engage with complex realities.

Mission driven learning: A purposeful orientation to knowledge rooted in ecological, civic or social commitments.

Social intelligence: The ability to communicate, collaborate and foster community bonds.

Agility and wisdom: The capacity for ethical decision making in uncertain and rapidly changing environments.

These traits are not exclusive to urban or elite populations. With the appropriate support and cultural affirmation, they can be nurtured in every school and community.

Policy instruments and institutional mechanisms

To implement this educational vision, several policy mechanisms are proposed:

Civic and ethical education programme: A compulsory module for Grades 6-13 focusing on human rights, environmental ethics and public law.

Mastery transcript pilots: A non-exam assessment initiative to be trialled in selected provinces, supported by civil society and donor institutions.

National service scheme: A structured post-A’Level programme for cross cultural volunteering and public service.

Environmental school network: Establish provincial flagship schools focused on sustainability, biodiversity and climate adaptation.

Anti-corruption education module: A critical thinking curriculum designed around Sri Lankan cases of institutional corruption.

Provincial innovation Grants: A decentralised funding model enabling local education authorities to trial non-traditional models (e.g., project-based learning, cooperative education, civic clubs).

Education as a foundation of sovereignty

In David Brooks’ framing, the US’s narrow meritocracy failed to produce ethical leadership, resulting instead in fragmentation and political decay. Sri Lanka cannot afford to reproduce that outcome. Educational privilege must not be mistaken for moral or civic authority. An exam aristocracy will only hollow out institutions and sever the connection between education and public responsibility. An assessment regime divorced from civic ethics and social inclusion risks eroding institutional trust and alienating the citizenry.

Brooks observed that the US, instead of renewing its democratic elite, descended into populist upheaval, culminating in the rise of President Donald Trump, a product of leadership unmoored from the people, the land and the moral fabric of the nation. A comparable danger now confronts Sri Lanka. In the absence of principled and inclusive leadership, the citizenry has been left disillusioned, polarised and vulnerable to manipulation. Resisting this drift requires an educational model rooted in integrity, ecological awareness, and collective responsibility – one that broadens the definition of merit beyond cognitive performance.

A humane meritocracy anchored in empathy, environmental stewardship and democratic understanding offers a more sustainable and inclusive path forward. Such an education can nurture citizens committed to upholding the rule of law, resisting corruption, and protecting sovereignty in substance, not merely in symbolism [4].

Footnotes

[1] David Brooks, How the Ivy League Broke America, The Atlantic, December 2024.

[2] Kannangara’s Free Education Bill (1945) laid the foundation for universal access and the dismantling of colonial educational privilege.

[3] Brooks identifies these failures in The Six Sins of the Meritocracy, highlighting the long term consequences of a cognitively narrow elite formation.

[4] This vision has been shaped by Lawyer Nagananda Kodituwakku’s civic education work through the Vinivida Foundation, highlighting constitutional literacy, judicial independence and the role of legal awareness in building democratic citizenship.