The Motive of Education

It has happened yet again. We in Sri Lanka have witnessed yet another "failure" in the system of education. The leaking out of the 19 short questions in the O/L Science examination paper has proved to be yet another sequential failure of our dependency on the education system in the country. The Minister of Education's simple response to bring justice to the incident was to allocate 19 marks to all students who sat for the paper, thus nullifying proper weight into the root cause of how the competent student actually lost 19 marks in this judgmental exam. The incident exemplifies the Foucaultian view that knowledge is indissociable from the regimes of power. This contradicts Paulo Freire’s notion of “emanicipatory education” where the so called subject overcomes his/her oppressiveness, by venturing into critical consciousness via education. What has happened to the students who faced this situation at the exam is that they have been trapped in a dilemma within the fatalistic system, which is originally created to liberate and surpass them out of their class miseries. Apart from changing caste names (this has become a current trend for Lankans, particularly for the majority Sinhala Buddhists, for moving up the social ladder), education is still esteemed to be the dominant and most feasible means of erasing one’s caste and creed and positioning oneself comfortably as a cog-in-the-wheel within the treacherous capitalistic framework, the pit hole that guides the country to its doom today. It is true that Freire’s revolutionary method of education, as opposed to his “banking system” encourages a partnership between the teacher and the taught for the betterment of the system itself and its outcome. However, Sri Lanka is way behind realizing a solution through education for the betterment of its humanity for the headlights of power have obliterated the regime’s ability to see far. Ultimately, its subjects, in this case students will continue to remain diabolical calculations of the statesmen. One needs to question why the government’s printing press man arrested for the leakage of the paper and the private tuition class master who gave the questions out in black and white to his students did what they did. Wealth, fame, popularity and power have become the reduced milestones of human existence, beyond which an articulation is not tolerated or heard. This is true for rulers and the ruled, elite or otherwise. Constructive criticism or dialogue for human progress, which education should commend to is far off from our reach. The two men’s act in this scenario is a mere subversive reaction, form of survival and resistance to an unfathomable system which has no other alternative.