Economic Liberalisation, Qualifications and Livelihoods in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Sri Lanka experienced a rapid expansion of population in the first few decades following Independence in 1948. Population growth far outstripped the rate of growth of the economy which remained mostly dependent on primary production for export and domestic consumption. Introduction of universal free education pre-dated political independence and led to rapid school enrolments. In a slow-growth economy, dominated by state enterprises, education became the main avenue of upward social mobility for many underprivileged young people. Increasing competition for education and white-collar employment in the then dominant state sector in the 1960s and the 1970s necessitated policy interventions that were not necessarily fair to all competing social and ethnic groups. In the late 1970s, the policy focus shifted from education to liberal economic reforms aimed at generating economic growth and employment creation. Early gains in terms of economic expansion were slowed down by the ethnic conflict that erupted in 1983 and continues to retard economic development in the country. While the affluent strata continue to gain from the open economic and liberal educational environment in terms of income and lucrative employment opportunities, many young people from lower social strata who possess conventional paper qualifications live in despair looking for scarce white-collar jobs. Those who have resources to invest in overseas training and/or foreign qualifications are in an advantaged position in the competition for private and transnational sector employment.