Gurudeniya School

Primary school to higher education are primarily funded and overseen by three governmental ministries.[2]

        Department of Examinations: National examination service
    Ministry of Higher Education: for universities
    Ministry of Education Services: for supplying the physical facilities required for general education
    Ministry of Vocational & Technical Training: for vocational education and technical colleges

Exceptions to this system exist — mostly when it comes to tertiary with several public universities and institutes coming under the purview of different ministries. These divisions have led to a high degree of mismanagement and inefficiency over the years.
History



Education in Sri Lanka has a history of over 2300 years, it is believed that the Sanskrit language was brought to the island from North India as a result of the establishment of the Buddhism in the reign of King Devanampiya Tissa from the Buddhist monks sent by Emperor Asoka of India. Since then the an education system evolved based around the Buddhist temples and Pirivenas (monastic colleges), the later primarily intended for the education of clergy (even to this day) and higher education. Evidence of this system is found on the Mahawamsa and Dipavamsa, the Chronicle of Lanka that deals with the history of the island from the arrival of Prince Vijaya and his followers in the 6th century BC.[3]

With the out set of the colonial expansion in the island, first in the coastal provinces and then interior, Christian missionary societies become active in the field of education. The Church's monopoly of education in the island ended following the Colebrooke Commission set up by the British administration.
Schools

A standard system of schools were begun by the British based on the recommendations of the Colebrooke Commission in 1836, this is regarded as the beginning of the modern schooling system in the island. It started with the establishment of the Royal College in Colombo (formally the Colombo Academy) and lead to the formation of several single sex schools constructed during the colonial period, by the British.[4] Some of these schools were affiliated to the Anglican Church, these included S. Thomas' College in Mount Lavinia, Trinity College in Kandy. Wesley College, Colombo and Richmond College, Galle were started by the Methodist Church.[5]

In 1938 the education system in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) was made free following the granting of universal franchise in 1931. The late Hon. Dr. C.W.W. Kannangara took the initiative in establishing free education when he was the Minister of Education. Under this initiative the government established Madhya Maha Vidyalayas (MMV - Central Colleges) that were scattered around the island to provide education to all. The medium provided was either in Sinhala or Tamil.

In 1942 a special committee was appointed to observe the education system and among the suggestions that followed, the following still play an important role:

    i. Make available to all children a good education free of charge, so that education ceases to be a commodity purchasable only by the urban affluent.
    ii. Make national languages the media of instruction in place of English so that opportunities for higher education, lucrative employment open only to small number of the urban affluent, would become available to others as well.
    iii. Rationalize the school system so that educational provision is adequate, efficient and economical.
    iv. Ensure that every child is provided with instruction in the religion of his/her parents.
    v. Protect teachers from exploitation by managers of schools.
    vi. Make adequate provision for adult education.

After independence, the number of schools and the literacy rate of the people substantially increased. According to the Ministry of Statistics, today there are approximately 9,830 public schools serving close to 4,030,000 students, all around the island.

During the colonial times, late national heroes like Anagarika Dharmapala together with foreigners like Colonel Henry Steel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky of the Buddhist Theosophical Society installed Buddhist schools to foster Sinhala students with an English education rich in Buddhist values and also in order to bring Buddhism to life, at a time, it was slowly fading away from the people. Most of these schools were established in the capitals of the major provinces of Sri Lanka. The first of these were Ananda College, Colombo (formerly English Buddhist School); Dharmaraja College, Kandy (formerly Kandy Buddhist High School); Mahinda College, Galle (formerly Galle Buddhist Theosophical Society School)[6]; Musaeus College, Colombo[7] and Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala (formerly Kurunegala Buddhist Institution) which were followed decades later by Visakha Balika Maha Vidyalaya (formerly Buddhist Girls College), Colombo; Nalanda Maha Vidyalaya, Colombo; Mahamaya Vidyalaya, Kandy. Sri Lanka also has many catholic schools such as St. Joseph's College, St Bridget's Convent, St Peter's College and St Anthony's College in Kandy. Many schools were built in the post colonial era. However, the established schools who had their origins in the colonial era dominate social life in Sri Lanka mainly due the network of old boys and old girls.

Several superficial changers to the school system took place in the post independence era by successive governments, these include the change of the primary medium of education to the national languages, nationalization of private schools and the introduction of national/provisional school system.
University

Higher education in Sri Lanka has been based on the several prominent Pirivenas during the local Kingdoms. The origins of the modern university system in Sri Lanka dates back to 1921 when a University College, the Ceylon University College was established at the former premises of Royal College Colombo affiliated to the University of London. However, the begin of modern higher education in Ceylon was in 1870 when the Ceylon Medical School[8] was established followed by Colombo Law College (1875),[9] School of Agriculture (1884) and the Government Technical College (1893).

The University of Ceylon was established on 1 July 1942 by the Ceylon University Ordinance No.20 of 1942 which was to be unitary, residential and autonomous. The University was located in Colombo and several years later a second campus was built in Peradeniya. University of Ceylon became the University of Sri Lanka follow in the University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972 resulting in a more centralized administration and more direct government control, this gave way for creation of septate universities after the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978. Even though new universities of independent identities were created government maintained its direct control and centralized administration though the University Grants Commission. Late Hon. Lalith Athulathmudali as Minister of Education developed an initiative to develop the higher education of the country in the 1980s, the Mahapola Fund established by him provided scholarship and much needed founding to higher education institution to this day. Until amendments to the University Act were made in 1999 only state universities were allowed to grant undergraduate degrees, however this has since changed.
Primary and secondary education
Structure
School girl

Sri Lanka's education structure is divided into five parts: primary, junior secondary, senior secondary, collegiate and tertiary. Primary education lasts five to six years (Grades 1-5) and at the end of this period, the students may elect to write a national exam called the Scholarship exam. This exam allows students with exceptional skills to move on to better schools. After primary education, the junior secondary level (referred to as middle school in some schools) lasts for 4 years (Grades 6-9) followed by 2 years (Grades 10-11) of the senior secondary level which is the preparation for the General Certificate of Education (G.C.E) Ordinary Level (O/Ls). According to the Sri Lankan law, it is compulsory that all children go to school till grade 9 (age 14) at which point they can choose to continue their education or drop out and engage in apprenticeship for a job or farming. However, the Ministry of Education strongly advises all students to continue with their studies at least till the G.C.E Ordinary Level. Students who are pursuing tertiary education must pass the G.C.E O/Ls in order to enter the collegiate level to study for another 2 years (grades 12-13) to sit for the G.C.E Advanced Level. On successful completion of this exam, students can move on to tertiary education, there for the GCE A/Ls is the university entrance exam in Sri Lanka.[10]

Due to the variety of ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, many schools teach only in either Sinhala medium or in Tamil medium and not the English medium. The elite colleges in major cities such as Colombo and Kandy, teach in all three medium.