WHAT I LEARNED AND HOW I LEARNED

Looking back: pre-1977 education in Sri Lanka

Before 1977, the Sri Lankan education system was more balanced and human-centred in several important ways:

Practical learning had real space: hygiene, agriculture, handcrafts, home science, basic mechanics, and vocational skills were not treated as “less important.”

Literature and language (Sinhala, Tamil, English, classical texts) were taught not just for exams, but to build thinking, imagination, and emotional depth.

Moral and civic values were naturally embedded—through school culture, religious instruction, discipline, respect for teachers, and community life.

Creativity and personality development mattered more than competition alone.

Schools helped students become good human beings first, not just job seekers.

   It was not a perfect system—but it was grounded, practical, and          culturally rooted.

We should not have abandoned the old system; we should have continued it, refined it, and upgraded it with modern technology. We should have integrated Instead of discarding. We should have modernized it.

A strong education system is not one that produces only workers for the economy, but one that produces:

1:thoughtful citizens

2:ethical leaders

3:creative minds

4:emotionally intelligent human beings

Sri Lanka once had the foundation for this.

The mistake was not reforming—but reforming without wisdom, continuity, or cultural grounding. Modern technology should be a tool in education, not its soul.

            When education loses its humanity, no amount of progress     can save a nation.

WIJEWARDANA WITHANAGE