The Education Sector Development Program (ESDP) of the Ministry of Education which commenced in 2013 and is implemented through the nine provincial education departments, Department of Education Publications and Department of Examinations is thefirst Result Based Lending (RBL) program by the Asian Development Bank in Sri Lanka.
Under the program costing US$ 200 million it was intended to introduce the Technology stream for GCE A/L, upgrade 250 1C schools (to include at least one school per Divisional Secretaries division) in the island were to be upgraded to 1AB (schools offering all streams for GCE A/L) status, develop teacher training, improve leadership and strengthen school management as well as introduce performance based financing to provinces. It was mentioned that by October 2018 the program had achieved 28 out of the 32 disbursement linked results. The project will end in February 2019.
In the past five decades the ADB has provided US$12.5 billion in loans and grants to the education sector to assist its developing member countries achieve the goal of education for all and has agreed to provide another US$ 200 million to the Ministry of Education to support ESDP 2.
Figures provided by the Ministry of Education also showed that there was an increase in the number of students who opted to follow the Technology stream for the GCE Advance Level.
“It is the Ministry of Education that has to present the Education Sector Development Framework Program (ESDFP) and the ADB and the World Bank has agreed to support it. In this instance the ESDFP was US$4.9 billion of which the ADB has agreed to give US$ 200 million and the disbursement would be achieving the key results” said Herathbanda Jayasundera Social Development Officer of the Asian Development Bank’s Sri Lanka mission who is in charge of coordinating the program.
“We make an independent Evaluation to see if the facts and figures are correct and if the result has been actually achieved,” Jayasundera added.
It was shown that a high percentage of students who had followed the technology stream at NarandeniyaCC had gained admission to universities or other institutes of higher learning while others had ventured into starting their own enterprises.
Narandeniya Central College in the Matara District a mixed 1AB secondary school with 2,340 students and has a staff of 108 was one of the schools that introduced the technological stream for the GCE Advanced Level when it was introduced and has been able to make remarkable progress as well as achieve commendable results. Of the 795 students enrolled to the GCE Advanced Level more than a third had opted to follow course of studies in the technological stream which was introduced to the school curriculum in 2013.
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