Photo courtesy of SJP
Sri Lanka stands at a critical juncture in its development journey. The new government’s policy framework, “A Thriving Nation, A Beautiful Life,” correctly identifies education as fundamental to national revival and economic progress. However, while this framework addresses necessary immediate reforms, it stops short of preparing for the transformative changes that technological innovation, particularly artificial intelligence, will force upon our education system and economy.
The challenge we face is threefold.
First, technological innovations such as ‘Khanmigo: Khan Academy’s AI-powered teaching assistant & tutor’ are already democratizing access to high quality education, delivering teaching and assessment at scale, beyond geographic boundaries, on demand and at significantly reduced costs. These bottom up disruptions will fundamentally change how learning happens whether our institutions are ready for them or not. Such innovations have the potential to disrupt high fee levying private educational institutions on the one hand and leave the rural and more economically disadvantaged students lagging far behind their counterparts who have access to these digital learning pathways.
Second, artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the global economy, transforming traditional careers and creating new ones at an unprecedented pace. While Sri Lanka’s National AI Strategy addresses the need for technical talent to drive innovation, it doesn’t tackle the broader question: how do we prepare our entire workforce for an economy where career paths will be in constant flux unlike the stable, predictable careers of the past? The Pareto Principle will apply to AI vendors and engineers as well where it will be dominated by the top tier of innovative AI platforms and the very best of engineering talent. Most others will get left behind and forced to find alternative paths. The high skilled human jobs of today like software engineers, some professions – including doctors and lawyers in certain specialisations – and trades will continue to exist but augmented by intelligent systems to the extent that they will not require the same level of training, expertise or experience as they do now to perform effectively.
Third, our current approach to education policy is fragmented across multiple policy documents and institutions from sports and youth policies to science and technology, from economic to digital transformation strategies. Each operates with its own priorities and governance structures, lacking a unified framework for coherent implementation.
This fragmentation is particularly concerning given the scope and scale of transformation needed. The education system we require must do more than transfer knowledge; it must develop adaptable, capable individuals who can thrive in a rapidly changing world. This means fostering not just technical skills but also character strengths, social capabilities and the ability to learn and reinvent oneself throughout life.
A vision for transforming the education system must:
- Unite fragmented policy initiatives under a coherent framework that serves our long term national development goals
- Create institutional structures capable of delivering both traditional education and lifelong learning opportunities
- Develop assessment and certification systems that capture the full spectrum of human capability
- Prepare students not just for their first job but for multiple careers in an AI-transformed economy
- Build on Sri Lanka’s cultural and educational strengths while embracing necessary innovation
The goal is an ambitious one but essential: to create an education system that develops not just knowledge and skills, but complete human beings capable of adapting to change while maintaining their values and contributing meaningfully to society.
The proposals arise from careful analysis of global trends, technological capabilities and Sri Lanka’s unique context and needs. They aim to bridge the gap between our current reality and the future we must prepare for, offering practical paths forward while maintaining focus on long term transformation.
Education is not just about economic preparation; it’s about developing human potential in all its dimensions. In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, our education system must excel at developing the uniquely human capabilities that will remain valuable regardless of technological change.
Overview
The purpose of an education system goes far beyond filling minds with knowledge. It should develop and validate the full spectrum of an individual’s capabilities that make our economy and society work. Yet today’s labor market struggles to recognize and reward real human potential. Employers cannot verify candidates’ abilities. Workers cannot easily prove their true worth. And society wastes enormous human potential because we lack reliable ways to develop and recognize capabilities beyond traditional credentials and allocate human resources fairly and productively. All of these can be traced back to failures and shortcomings of the education system.
This proposal reimagines how an education system can be structured as the foundation for a more intelligent, fair and efficient instrument for developing and validating human potential across broader spectrum of human capabilities that can be practically developed and assessed. By developing and validating everything that makes us valuable – from knowledge and skills to character, social integration and self-awareness – we can transform how society develops, connects and rewards human potential and inoculate people as far as possible from the disruptive technologies that are expected to transform our society and economy. Instead of succumbing to its disruptive forces, we can use modern technology to create a universal platform that enables assessment and validation of both human capability and character more accurate and trustworthy. This in turn would enable greater cooperation between individuals and institutions in a way that enriches the economic and social life of a nation and the world.
For example, Uber didn’t create new cars. It unlocked the value of empty seats by building trust between potential passengers and drivers and a means of calculating a fair price based on demand and ride quality. Our education system can do something far more powerful: develop human potential at every stage of their lives and build trust in people’s true capabilities, enabling them to remain as valuable, relevant and productive for as much of their lives as possible. This isn’t just about teaching better. It’s about creating a new trust infrastructure for developing human capability and realizing human potential in a way that could transform how society develops, recognizes and values people’s real abilities.
Best of all, like Uber, it doesn’t need new resources, just smarter ways to use what we already have.
The purpose
Education must do more than transfer knowledge; it must aim to develop well-rounded human beings capable of not only thriving in a rapidly changing world but leading those changes in a positive direction and towards wholesome outcomes. This proposal presents a framework for transforming education by clearly defining its purpose and expected outcomes, while providing practical paths for implementation using existing resources more effectively and self-funding innovations that can be scaled rapidly and responsive to changes and different needs and social contexts.
Scope and focus
This proposal does not prescribe curriculum content. Instead, it establishes clear objectives for what education must achieve and provides frameworks for measuring success. This approach allows educational systems to develop appropriate content while ensuring they address all essential elements of human development.
Critical gaps in the education system
Our current education system faces three fundamental challenges:
- Narrow focus on academic achievement at the expense of complete human development
- Outdated certification methods that fail to capture true capability
- Slow adaptation to technological change, particularly artificial intelligence
The framework
True education must develop five essential elements:
- Knowledge: understanding principles and their application
- Skills: practical capabilities and problem-solving
- Character: ethical judgment and resilience
- Social Integration: collaboration and community engagement
- Self-Understanding: personal growth and authentic development
Resource optimization
Transformation of an entire education system can seem too daunting, ambitious and risky both as a project as well as politically. It can also seem costly both in terms of funds and in terms of the social capital required to align the interests of all stakeholders.
However, none of these are necessarily true. An visionary transformation of our education system can energise the citizenry because Sri Lankans have always placed a premium on their children’s education and there is a well-established consensus that it needs drastic reform while remaining true to the ideals of universal access to education. The required effective transformation of the education system can and must be strategically sequenced to enable it to happen both rapidly and organically. We do not need to be naïve enough to assume that there will be no resistance to change but there will be equally potent ways to channel that resistance in productive ways. Most importantly, it will not only require minimal additional funding but can soon become self-funding with the potential to generate a surplus of funding from some of the useful and necessary expansions.
Initially, the focus needs to be on better utilizing existing assets. School facilities and their extensive infrastructure including sports grounds and dormitories occupy prime locations in our cities and towns but sit idle for over 40 percent of the year on the one hand while the business sector spends billions of rupees each year on professional development and training to keep the skills and knowledge of their workforce up to date and develop their management and leadership skills.
Education systems traditionally focus on young learners, creating a model where education departments are perpetual cost centres, dependent on public funding. This made sense when education was primarily for children and when careers followed predictable, stable paths. But our world has changed fundamentally.
Today’s rapidly evolving economy demands lifelong learning, regular skill updates and continuous professional development. This creates a crucial opportunity: while children’s education should remain publicly funded, adult professional education represents a significant untapped market. Our schools, with their existing facilities, infrastructure, and expertise, sit idle for months each year while professionals and organizations spend billions on training and development elsewhere.
Communities do not have adequate public spaces to participate in debates and discussions that could help them engage deeply in important issues and hear engage with experts and stakeholders and political leaders. Opportunities are ripe for schools and their facilities to be more optimally utilised to address these social and business needs in ways that could facilitate the unmet needs for lifelong learning while funding the required systematic transformations. Over time, new certification systems and educational programs can generate revenue well in excess of their operating costs.
By opening school facilities during holiday periods for professional education, skill development and public engagements, we can:
- Generate revenue from currently wasted infrastructure
- Serve the pressing need for lifelong learning
- Create supplementary services and products using spare capacity in existing resources and minimal marginal cost
- Build stronger connections between schools, industry and local communities
- Support continuous workforce development
This approach transforms education from a pure cost centre into a hybrid system, maintaining free public education for children while generating revenue from professional development services. The additional revenue can help fund system improvements, deliver specialized local human capital development initiatives and create more opportunities for disadvantaged students.
Just as importantly, this integration of professional learning with traditional education creates natural pathways for knowledge exchange, mentorship and community engagement. It turns our schools into true centers of lifelong learning, serving the entire community rather than just young students.
Supporting systems
Transforming education requires concrete ways to develop and measure capabilities beyond academic knowledge. Three examples demonstrate how this broader development can work in practice:
Structured sports-based education can systematically develop character, leadership and social skills. Just as music education progresses from basic scales to Carnegie Hall, sports can create clear pathways from basic skills to advanced leadership capabilities, graduated levels building not just sporting ability but also teamwork, strategic thinking, ethical judgment and personal resilience. Any learning that is based on such an activity, thoughtfully structured, can develop multiple dimensions of human capability simultaneously.
Community integration programs, modelled on successful systems like scouting, show how we can develop civic responsibility and practical skills through real world engagement. By connecting students with local government, emergency services, and community projects, these programs can teach cooperation, leadership and social responsibility through direct experience. They create natural pathways for students to understand and contribute to their communities while developing crucial life skills.
Underpinning these practical programs must be a way to verify and validate these broader capabilities. Unlike traditional certificates that capture only academic achievement, certification systems of the future need to be able to track development across all dimensions of human capability. The technology for this already exists.
These examples show how and education system can systematically develop and recognize the full spectrum of human potential. They demonstrate that with thoughtful design, we can create clear pathways for growth in character, social capability, and self-understanding – dimensions that traditional education often leaves to chance.