respectively by being committed to the provision of health services, by investing in the health sector and by being committed to democracy and gender equality.
Sri Lanka’s free education system Dr Sunil Jayantha Navaratne, the Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education, said that the free education system in Sri Lanka is without parallel with free education provided for all from grade 1 to university. “The long-term vision of the
country is to transform Sri Lanka into the knowledge hub of Asia,” he said. Universalization of primary
education with education being mandatory from age 5 to 14 has resulted in high-quality primary education with Sri Lanka ranked 42nd in the world, the highest in its region. In addition, Sri Lanka also has the best teacher-student ratio in the South Asian region. Even more remarkably, the
percentage of students who complete primary education stands at 99 per cent, which is one of the best not only in the South Asian region but in all of Asia. Dr Navaratne said the government
had taken further measures to consolidate this position with a host of new programmes including its newest plan to establish 1,000 fully
equipped schools with state-of-the- art facilities throughout the island, with at least one in each division. Key focus areas in education are the promotion of information technology, languages, science, business education and values. He added that the university
education system is to be revamped to correct a mismatch in skills to improve the employability of graduates, which is currently 59 per cent with arts graduates being the worst hit. Structural changes are to be introduced to create globally employable world-class graduates. The ministry official said another
serious problem that Sri Lanka is confronted with is the limited number
of students that can be enrolled to universities. Although nearly 60,000 students satisfy the basic qualifications to enter universities, only around 20,000 can be accommodated while about another 10,000 go overseas for higher education. Responding to questions from Hon. Obuebite Robinson Jonathan, MLA, of Bayelsa and Hon. Obius Chisala, MP, of Zambia about how Sri Lanka accommodates all those who qualify for university places, Dr Navaratne said about 10,000 students a year go to universities abroad when they can’t find places in the countries 15 national universities and eight training institutions. There are also proposals to open private