Impact of the Grade Five Scholarship Examination Achievements on the Performance of Secondary School Education in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This study examines whether the Grade Five Scholarship Examination (G5) of Sri Lanka has a spillover positive effect on the secondary school education of students with the help of the educational production function. Using longitudinal data collected at two different times from a stratified random sample of 380 students from the Southern Province of Sri Lanka, it was found that the G5 examination performance carries forward a significantly positive influence on the secondary level of education. More precisely, the findings suggest that one more additional test score (out of 200) obtained in the G5 examination will be reflected as a rise in the O/L performance index value by 0.112 at a 1% significance level. It implies that ten additional marks in the G5 examination will be transmitted to the secondary level academic performance as a shift of one grade above for one subject in G.C.E. O/L results, i.e., a B-pass could be elevated to an A-pass. These results imply that the academic inputs fed into primary education will yield in secondary education. Accordingly, this research recommends the existence of the G5 scholarship examination, of which the motivational factors embodied would improve the secondary school-level academic achievements of the child, although G5 has already lost its original goals.