Free education in Sri Lanka. You might ask, “Is education in Sri Lanka free anymore?” It used to, but  not anymore. Education is a major  factor,especially in developing  countries, in order to create a bright,  disciplined society. However, during  the current Covid-19 pandemic,  

online learning has become a huge  offset in the education of young Sri Lankans. Sri Lanka is still a  developing country with a poor  economy, having much of the  population as farmers, fishermen,  estate-workers and laborers, who  cannot earn a proper living. Therefore, most people do not have  access to digital devices and technology to continue their  children’s online learning.

Sri Lanka might have an incredible literacy rate of 97%, but what is our  computer literacy rate? Our computer literacy rate is at a dire state of 32.3%. 60%  of households that have school-going children do not even have access to an  internet connection. Many students have been seen climbing trees and  mountains just trying to get an internet connection. And out of the remaining 40%,  90% of it comes from the mobile data on smartphones, which increases the money  spent on data. Doing online school with your video on for 2 hours costs 1GB of data,  which amounts up to approximately 120 rupees. Many families cannot even afford  paying this amount of money for a week! Many people’s wages are even 300 rupees.  

In addition, only 22% of the people in Sri Lanka even have laptops. The  majority of the 78% who do not have laptops come from rural areas, where the  economic standard is exceptionally low, containing only people like farmers and  labourers. 

So many Sri Lankan children are out there, suffering from this digital crisis.  The severe problem of poverty also combines with this to create 1 thing- the utter  ruin of the education of Sri Lankan children. Many families in Sri Lanka dream of getting their children a well-paying job with a good education. But how is this  supposed to happen with this prevailing situation? 

These problems are threatening the future, and the education of the children  of this generation. Our country’s best path forward is a well-educated generation.  Therefore, I propose 2 solutions. One is reducing the prices of digital devices such as  smartphones, tablet PCs and laptops. By reducing the prices, more people will be  able to access such devices easier. The Sri Lankan government can request bulk  orders of laptops, tablet PCs and even smartphones. Then we can get more of the  digital devices into the market for a cheaper price. We can also manufacture our  own digital devices in Sri Lanka. It is a long-term process but it is completely worth  it if we can produce our very own sri lankan brand of Tablets and smartphones.  

My second solution is to reduce the prices of mobile data. Free packages of  data that are sponsored by the government could be given to the students. The  government should also stop collecting taxes from the private companies that  provide data. Then, Sri Lankan students can get more mobile data for a cheaper  price. Also, companies can put up Wi-Fi towers in the rural areas of Sri Lanka, so  that students can get an internet connection and mobile data easier. 

These are the methods I propose to help Sri Lankan students get access to  more digital devices for their education. This pandemic has shown us how far  behind we are in the digital sector compared to other countries. Our country can be  better with a well-educated younger generation, which will lead to a brighter and  better future. Thus, I propose my solutions, to help us rise and solve this problem. 

By Yash Nanayakkara, 12 years old