Sri Lanka

Preprimary education is voluntary and entirely private. Most of the schools are in urban areas. Primary education includes grades one to five. It is free but, by tradition, was not compulsory until 1999, when the Sri Lankan government established new regulations making primary education compulsory as part of a reform program. An estimated 14 percent of children ages 5 to 10 years were not attending school. Village committees are now empowered with the authority to raise and monitor school attendance. Public awareness programs are being carried out to encourage educational attendance. The most recent statistics indicate that 90 percent of Sri Lankan children are enrolled in primary education.

The curriculum for the first three years of primary education includes religion, the mother tongue, English, and numbers. In grade four the same subjects are continued and physical education, constructive activities, and environmental studies added. The goal of primary education is to promote a useful role in the local community.