ENGINEER - Vol. [volume no.], No. [Issue no.], pp.

[page range], [year] The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka

REVIEW OF CAPITAL STOCK INVESTMENT OPTIONS IN EDUCATION SECTOR OF SRI LANKA

A.A.D.A.J. Perera, A.H.M.D.R. Dassanayake
Abstract: Education sector, being a major component of capital investment of Sri Lanka, has drawn 10% of the government budget for the past few years. More than 50% of capital expenditure for education is borne by donor funded projects (World Bank, ADB, UNICEF and others). For the planning of future funding, it is important find the short, medium and long term capital cost estimates for the development school infrastructure. This paper addresses this requirement of capital cost estimates according to the school norms set by the Ministry of Education as well as the policies proposed by the National Education Commission. It begins with a brief description of the objectives of this study. The section two reviews the current school infrastructure of the country. It also presents the student population variation and enrolment patterns for different types of schools, current school norms prepar ed by the Ministry and few analyses on infrastructure development. School infrastructure cost estimates are analysed in section three. Current cost estimating methods and the methodology used in this study are described. Keywords: School infrastructure, Cost estimates

1.

Introduction

2.
2.1

Review of school infrastructure

Introduction

Capital expenditure analysis was carried out as a part of the sector review held in 2004 and 2005. The government of Sri Lanka and the World Bank has agreed that the future funding for the education sector will be based on the sector wide Approach (SWAp). The annual capital expenditure of the school education is approximately US $ 70 million and more than 50% of capital expenditure is from donor funded projects (W orld Bank, ADB, UNICEF and others). In the absence of lo ng term cost estimates for capital expenditure it was important find the short, medium and long term capital cost estimates for the development of schools. The salient objectives of the analysis were to: To establish the total cost estimates for capital investment as per norms of the Ministry of education. To establish the cost estimates for the proposals stated by the National Education commission [3]. To establish capital expenditure options for the government and to establish the cost estimates for the same. To perform an analysis for capital expenditure in the past.

The contours of Sri Lankas present education system were developed in the nineteenth century after the establishment of British colonial rule over the island [3]. Up to 1931 the education was both under the government and the missionary organizations. Further this dual structure had a minority English medium, fee levying schools for the elite and the emerging middle class the fre e vernacular schools in Sinhalese and Tamil with an attenuated curriculum for the masses [3]. Generally English medium schools had good infrastructure while other schools had a mix of permanent, semi permanent and temporary buildings. The permanent buil dings constructed during the early period are still being used in many schools especially in former English medium schools. The Kannangara Report (1943) put forward policies for universal education. This policy changed the education system as a whole and in 1948 , 54 central schools were established. Initially most schools

This need to be replaced with a better picture

Eng. (Dr.) A.A.D.A.J. Perera , C. Eng., MIE(SL), B.Sc. Eng (Hons) (Moratuwa), M.Sc. (Lough), PhD. (Lough), Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa. Eng. (Mrs.) A.H.M.D.R. Dassanayake, AMIE(SL), B.Sc. Eng (Hons) (Moratuwa), Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa.

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had temporary buildings or semi permanent buildings with a few number or nothing of permanent buildings. After 1948, within a period of less than 40 years the number of schools in Sri Lanka increased by over 50%, and the number has increased to more than 9,500 by 1970. During the period of 1950s and early part of 1960s most of the school buildings were constructed by the Department of Buildings and cost optimisation methods had been implemented. Therefore most school buildings consist of classroom unit of 1.9mX1.9m. Almost all the buildings were of linear collections of this basic classroom module. A typical such building is shown in Figure 1 The infrastructure facilities of schools are defined in the norms of Ministry of Education. The norms give the requirements of classroom space, facilities such as water and sanitation, special teaching facilities such as science laboratories, furniture and equipment etc. The application of norms for development of school is at a very low level or non -exist. The lack of application of norms for the preparation the secondary development plan [1] and the primary development plan [2] is very evident.

2.2

Student Enrolment

2.2.1 Enrolment history It is important to study the enrolment projections before performing cost estimates for school infrastructure. For example if the school population is rapidly increasing then it is v ery important to make reasonable projections of student enrolment. Otherwise the accuracy of cost estimates will be very low. Figure 2 shows the total student population and total number of schools in Sri Lanka during the period 1972 to 2003. The total student population has stabilized during the last five years and may not drop dramatically in the next five years. Therefore planning based on the current student population will give satisfactory infrastructure plans for the next five years. The Figure shows high number of schools in 1972 due to emphasis that Sri Lanka put on Education. In fact the number of students per school has increased from 272 in 1972 to around 400 by the year 2000. There is a drop in student enrolment after 2000 and this is mainly due to declining growth rate of population of Sri Lanka. There is a decline in the number of schools ( Figure 2 right axis) and that is mainly due to the school rationalization program implemented by the Ministry of Education. Figure 3 shows the numb er of live births and school enrolment. Mallawarchchi [5] has discussed and presented a very comprehensive analysis and methodology for student enrolment projections. He has given good recommendations for the projections of student enrolment as well as t he use of other data such as number of registered live births. There is good relationship between number of registered live births and student enrolment and considering the recommendations of Mallawarchchi [5], it is clear that the student enrolment will not change significantly within the next five years.

Figure 1 - Typical School Building

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Thousands

5,000 4,500 4,000 3,500 Total Student Population Schools

15,000 13,500 12,000 10,500 9,000 7,500 6,000 4,500 3,000 1,500 0
74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 20 02
Number of Schools

Student Population

3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0

19 72

Year

Figure 2 - Total Student Enrolment and total schools Variation of Live Births and student admissions to Govt. schools
370,000 360,000 350,000 340,000
No. of Children

Live Births in the year shown Student admissions after 6 years

330,000 320,000 310,000 300,000 290,000 280,000 270,000

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Year of Birth

Note: Live births in 1991 and Student Admissions in 1997 are shown together Figure 3 - Total registered live births and Student enrolment to Grade 1 in Government Sc hools 2.2.2 Student population in different types of schools Table 1 gives the student population composition based on types of schools, gender and education cycles. The data presented is from 2003 school censes data. Table 2 gives the same student p distribution in 1996. opulation

Table 1 and Table 2 invite further analysis of change of student population in different types of schools with respect to time.

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Table 1 - Student population in 2003

Number Total Students 1 AB 1C Type 2 Type 3 Male Female Primary Secondary Collegiate 3,941,685 1,131,409 1,265,488 1,168,389 376,399 1,972,750 1,968,935 1,667,994 1,986,912 286,779 % of student population 28.7% 32.1% 29.6% 9.5% 50.0% 50.0% 42.3% 50.4% 7.3%

Types of schools Gender Cycle

2.2.3 Trends of Student Population Movements in Different Types of Schools Table 3 shows distribution of students in different types of schools in the years of 1996 and 2003 and a clear pattern shows that students have moved to 1AB schools. The movement could be of step type movement; i.e. students moving from 1C to 1AB, from Type 2 to 1C and from Type 3 to Type 2. This may be due to parents aspiration to put students to a good school as possible and availability of transport facilities such as public transport facilities, private motor cycles, school van facilities and other modes of transport. Table 3 - Student Enrolment Patterns of different types of Schools
Type of schools 1 AB 1C Type 2 Type 3 Student Enrolment % of enrolment 1996 2003 Growth 22.8% 28.7% 5.9% 32.6% 32.1% -0.5% 31.1% 29.6% -1.5% 13.4% 9.5% -3.9%

Table 2 - Student population in 1996

Number Total Students 1 AB 1C Type 2 Type 3 Male Female Primary Secondary Collegiate 4,148,426 947,871 1,352,173 1,292,290 556,492 2,082,073 2,066,753 1,818,433 2,103,775 226,621 % of student population 22.8% 32.6% 31.1% 13.4% 50.2% 49.8% 43.8% 50.7% 5.5%

Types of schools Gender Cycle

40%

35%

y = -0.0018x + 3.9018 R2 = 0.5418 y = -0.0022x + 4.7671 R2 = 0.5887 y = 0.0105x - 20.663 R2 = 0.9119

30%

Enrolment %

25%

20%

15%

1 AB Schools 1 C Schools Type 2 Schools Type 3 Schools

10%

y = -0.0064x + 12.995 R2 = 0.8951

5%

0% 1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Year
Figure 4 - Trends of Enrolments of School types

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Figure 4 shows trends in percentages of enrolments of different types of schools. Th e regression analysis of Type 3 schools shows that unless some intervention is made most of Type 3 schools will not have enrolment by year 2020. It is important to note the R 2 of the regression analysis of Type 3 schools is around 0.9 thus prediction is r eliable and accurate. Further the more alarming factor is the slope of the regression line for 1AB schools. By year 2020 Type 3 schools enrolments could drops to low value and enrolment of 1AB schools could 2 value of the rise to almost 55%. The R regression analysis of 1AB schools is around 0.9 thus suggest an accurate prediction. Clearly the development trend of 1AB schools and decline trend of Type 3 school need attention and require policy decisions to prevent an undesirable school system. Regression analysis of 1C School and Type 2 2 values schools show flat lines as well as R
600,000

around 0.5. Some of 1C schools and Type 2 schools may have got higher grading. A further analysis of Type 3 schools based on three local government administrative systems is shown in Figure 5. It is very clear that school in Pradesiya sabba; i.e. rural schools will loose students in the future. Alarming fact is the rate of decline is steep and prediction is accurate considering the R2 value (0.92). The enrolment of Type 3 schools in Municipal councils and Urban councils is remaining constant and no apparent trend is visible. From this it is possible to conclude that the public believe that even Type 3 School in a city is better and would prefer to send student to schools in the urban areas. Figure 6 shows enrolment of Type 3 schools of different provinces and all provinces show similar characteristics.

500,000

Municipal Council Urban Council Pradesiya Sabba

Student Enrolmnet

400,000 y = -28778x + 6E+07 R2 = 0.9268

300,000

200,000

100,000

y = -226.45x + 475326 R2 = 0.0371 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

y = 1183.5x - 2E+06 R2 = 0.6556 2001 2002 2003 2004

0 1995

Year

Figure 5 - Enrolment pattern of Type 3 Schools in local government areas

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600,000

Student Enrolment in Type 3

500,000

Western Southern East North Central Sabaragamuwa

Central North North Western Uva

400,000

300,000

200,000

100,000

0 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Year

Figure 6 - Enrolment in Type 3 in Pradesiya sabba of different provinces It is important to analyse the decline of student population in relation to distance to nearest 1AB or 1C or Type 2 School. Figure 7 shows the student population of Type 3 schools in relation nearer schools of higher grades. It is very clear that Type 3 schools near to higher grade schools have not lost the enrolment. The most probable reason is these schools could be in urban areas. The Type 3 schools within distances of 3km, 5km and 9km to higher grades of schools have lost enrolment quite significantly. In fact the regression line slope is stee p and R 2 is more than 0.9 suggesting very high accuracy for prediction. The curves suggest that most of these schools will not have significant enrolment after 10 years. The
180,000 160,000 140,000
y = -1391.9x + 3E+06 R2 = 0.6334 y = -8770x + 2E+07 R2 = 0.9005 y = -8624.9x + 2E+07 R2 = 0.8711

Type 3 schools around 15km distance to a nearest higher grade school have not lo st enrolment to a significant level. However the number of schools of this category is around 40 and total enrolment is around 4000. The clear pattern is that students are moving from Type 3 schools to higher grades of schools. Further people have lost the confidence in more remote schools and parents are putting children to either Type 3 urban school or to higher grade school which are also generally in an urban area. This clearly calls for a policy intervention. If not a lot of vacancies will be created in Type 3 schools particularly in the range 3km to 9km distance form urban centres.

Student Enrolment

120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 0 1995 Within 3km Within 5km Within 6km Within 8km Within 15km

y = -6412.8x + 1E+07 R2 = 0.9167 y = -254.75x + 514028 R2 = 0.7986

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Year

Figure 7 - Enrolment of Type 3 schools with respect to distance to higher grade schools

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2.2.4 Popularity index of schools Popularity of a s chool could be measured by the ratio of number of students entered to grade 1 and number of vacancies in grade 1. Further the ratio of number of students entered to grade 1 and number of students applied to grade 1 gives yet another measurement. If the r atio is high the school is popular and if the ratio is low school is not popular. It is very clear from Table 4 a large number of parents want to put their children to 1AB or 1C schools. Capacity filling factor of 1AB is 110% while in 1C is 91%. From the parents those who applied for Type 3 schools a significant number must have applied to higher grades as well. Further capacity filling factors of Type 2 and Type 3 are 60% and 53% respectively. Here the capacity of grade 1 was calculated by multiplying the number of grade 1 classes by 35 (number of students per class). Table 4 - Grade 1 admission details 2003
Type 1AB 1C Type 2 Type 3 Total Number Applied 144,708 123,782 121,463 89,928 479,881 Number Entered 58,048 89,384 100,230 67,944 315,606 Capacity of school 52,815 98,315 166,985 128,905 447,020 Filling Factor 110% 91% 60% 53% 71%

much from the pictures of 1970. Simmonds [4] has given a comprehensive comparison of standards used in Asia for the provision of school buildings. The structures of standards do vary and in many situations, it is based on enrolment while some specify the overall size of the school based on different levels of enrolment. According to norms of classroom space of Bangladesh, India, Nepal is aroun d 0.9m2 per child while Singapore and Thailand is around 1.5m2 per child [4]. In Sri Lanka the norm is 1.05m2 per child for the Secondary and Collegiate cycle and 1.29m2 per child for the Primary cycle. Many countries have introduced education reforms in the recent past particularly moving from teacher centre teaching to student centre teaching. Sri Lanka introduced major education reform in 1996 and the introduction of student centre teaching is a key feature of reforms. Many countries have changed no rms for infrastructure together with education reforms but in Sri Lanka norms have not changed with education reforms. It may be useful to review the change of norms with time and education reforms and the USA may be one of the best examples. In the case of USA, Elementary schools have shown an average increase of 70 square feet (6.5m2) per child to 120 square feet (11.2m2) per child. Middle schools have shown an average increase of 110 square feet to 140 square feet (13.0m2), and high schools have shown an increase of 120 square feet to 160 square feet (14.9m2) per child [7]. The trend of the USA norm is to have larger space for secondary and collegiate cycle than for the primary cycle while in Sri Lanka the trend is in the opposite direction and values too being very much lower than USA. 2.3.2 Current Norms in Sri Lanka The current norms on Ministry of Education are given in Table 5

2.3

Norms and School Infrastructure

2.3.1 Review of Norms for School Infrastructure The present norms of Ministry of Education have evolve d through many studies. A comprehensive study on school building designs Asia had been carried out by Asian Regional Institute for School Building Research (1972). The study was mainly based on schools of Sri Lanka but the application of recommendations is not evident from the buildings constructed after 1972. In fact classrooms, furniture, etc. has not changed

Table 5 - Norms for Ministry of Education for School infrastructure Norm Description Norm Value Classroom 1.29m2 per Primary Child, 1.05m2 per Secondary/ Collegiate Child 36m2 up to 50 students (6-9 Enrolment) 60m2 51-120 students (6-9 Enrolment) 96m2 Above 120 students (6-9 Enrolment) Science room / Multipurpose room 60m2 up to 90 students (6-11 Enrolment) 72m2 91 to 180 students (6-11 Enrolment) 120m2 Above 181students (6-11 Enrolment) Technical 60m2 Up to 120 Collegiate technical stream enrolment ENGINEER 7

Workshop AL Science laboratory AL Geography Aesthetic Unit Libraries Social Studies English Resource room Latrines(Boys) Latrines(Girls) Urinals (Boys) Teachers Toilets Water supply Office Space Store room Staff Room Principals quarters Teachers quarters

120m2 120 to 180 Collegiate technical stream enrolment Additional 60m2 per additional 120 students enrolment 60m2 31 to 180 Collegiate science students Additional 60m2 per additional 160 Collegiate science students enrolment 60m2 for more than 50 AL geography students 96m2 over 140 students, 6-9 enrolment 96m2 over 200 students, 6-11 enrolment 18m2 up to 90 Students, 1-11 enrolment 36m2 over 90 Students, 1-11 enrolment Additional 60m2 for over 100 Collegiate students 36m2 Over 180 students Or Over 120 students (3 5) or Over 200 students (3 to 9) or Over 250 students (3 to 11) or 1 per 200 Students (boys) 1 per up to 100 Students (Girls), Additional 1 per every 150 students (Girls) 1 set of 3 Urinals per 150 students 1 up to 10 teachers, 2 for 11-40 teachers, 3 for more than 40 teachers Tap water/Well water 36m2 up to 750 students, 95m2 750 to 2000 students, 185m2 above 2000 students 18m2 up to 500 students, 36m2 above 500 students 18m2 for 11 to 20 teachers 36m2 for 21 to 40 teachers 60m2 for above 41 teachers 1 per school 1 single room unit up to 4 teachers 2 single room unit 5-8 teachers 1 single room unit and one double room unit 9-12 teachers 2 double room unit 9-12 teachers (a) All schools Sufficient classrooms and separate classrooms partitioned by wall/screen with solid walls and roof. Classroom space to make it possible for students to move freely to engage inactivity based learning. Classroom furniture for each student and each teacher and a blackboard, display board, teaching aids and a cupboard in each classroom. Principal office and staff room A library reading / reading room with adequate space, books and other resources. Playground space, play/sports equipment, garden, wall around school and gate. Adequate provision of safe drinking water. Sanitary facilities Electricity and telephone facilities as early as possible. Store room Principals quarters 8

There are no norms for new facilities such as IT rooms and services such electricity. The NEC [3] in the proposals for National Policy framework has given proposals for infrastructure development (section 4.4.8 pages 110 to 112). The proposals are in the areas of size of school, class size, minimum requirement for a school and school facilities in the co nflict affected areas. The details are given below. (i) Size of school The maximum number of students in school should be 3500 in Senior secondary schools 2500 in Secondary schools 1000 in Primary schools (ii) Class size Class size should not exceed 35 students in each class in grades 1-11 30 students in each class in grades 12-13 (iii) Minimum requirements for a school

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 Teachers quarters where necessary (b) Primary Grades [in addition to (iii)(a)] Book corners Work bench Sand (grades 1 and 2) Water basin Play area (c) Secondary grades [in addition to (iii) (a)] Multi purpose activity room Computer room Science laboratory adequate for Grades 6-11 Grades 12-13 Aesthetic unit Technical workshop (one or more units) including Agriculture unit. (iv) School facilities in the conflict affected areas The rehabilitation programme in the conflict affected areas should be given high priority. 2.3.3 Required Norms for the Future Norms are not available for new school facilities such as Information Technology (IT). It is not evident from publications of other countries the existence of norms for IT. In fact IT is a rapidly changing area even the methodology of such central computer rooms have changed to class based computer facilities in developed countries. Some exiting norms such Teachers quarters are not precisely defin ed. Quantification of some norms is required. 2.4 Conditions of School Infrastructure

specified by the Norms of Ministry of Education. The analysis presented here is based on data of 2003 and 2002 school censes. 2.4.1 Building Conditions The poor building conditions of schools seem a common factor in many countries including developed coun tries such as USA [7]. In Sri Lanka there are large number of undivided buildings, a few temporary and semi permanent buildings. Further even in the case of permanent buildings the maintenance being very low thus damaged floors and dirty walls are common. Statistics show that children who learn in schools with poor building conditions score lower on achievement tests than children who learn in schools with fair or excellent conditions. Numerous studies have affirmed that children learn better in a bette r physical environment. Therefore, mandating better test scores is an exercise in futility unless the facility, program and teachers support better leaning [7]. 2.4.2 Classroom Facilities Classroom is the main facility of school and almost all the stakeh olders put the classroom as the main required facility. Different analysis of school classroom facility is presented here . First the overall classroom facility of Sri Lanka is given . The classroom need was calculated comparing the available permanent classrooms and the classroom that should be in the school according to the norms. It is clear that the classroom usage factor in popular schools is over 125%; i.e. overcrowded by 25%. 67.6% student population study in overcrowded schools while 3.5% study in classrooms where th e usage factor is less than 40% (Figure 8). Many of these schools have empty classrooms or abandon buildings.

The school infrastructure has received continuous funding from the government. It is important to analyse the current status of school infrastructure as per standards

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120% 100% 80% Total Students % of Schools Usage Factor %

140.0%

120.0%

100.0%

Usage Factor

80.0%

60%
60.0%

40%
40.0%

20% 0%
0 00 0 0 0 0 15 0 00 ka 00 00 -3 -5 0 25 50 an 16 31 10 1-1 -2 -3 00 51 -4 r4 1100 0
1200% 1000% 800% 600% 400% 200% 0%

20.0%

0.0%

iL

1-

01

10

25

01

50

Sr

10

20

01 30
Pr ov in

Students per School

Figure 8 - Classroom usage in Schools Figure 9 shows the values of usage factor in different geographical areas. The average usage factor is more than 80% for any geographical division suggesting that improvement to classroom usage can be made if proper policies are implemented in admitting students to sch ools. NEC [3] has recommended that the small schools should be organized as feeder schools to nearest large secondary school in order to limit the exodus
120% 100%

to larger schools (recommendation 15, [3]). The current trend is to build more classrooms in scho ols especially in more popular schools but actual need is for a more distributed admittance to schools. The number of students in a class of a popular school is around 40 while the common classroom unit is 37m2 adequate for 30 primary students or 35 secondary or collegiate students.

Average Standard Diviation Minimum Maximum

USage Factor

80% 60% 40% 20% 0%

ils ar y ba ne io nc nc Sa re t Zo is ou ou D iv is tri ce ils n ct

ec

lS

es

an

al

io

Pr ad

na

ic

rb

at

un

is

Geograhpical Areas

Figure 9 - Classroom Usage in Geographical Areas

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Ed

iv

uc

10

Ed

io

uc

ip

at

io

iy

ve

2.4.3 Classrooms stock Many classes are being conducted in undivided buildings. These buildings are capable of accommodating to different class sizes but generally the disturbance to learning is high. Table 6 gives the distribution of undivided and divided classrooms. The values presented are based on 2002 censes data. Further some schools have semi permanent or temporary buildings. The total per manent buildings are more than 95% of the stock while semi permanent and temporary buildings account for less than 5% of the stock. This is a satisfactory situation. Further a large number of semi permanent and temporary buildings are in the conflict aff ected areas and need a special attention in development programs. However it is important to note that 42.5% classrooms are being conducted in undivided halls. To improve the quality of learning these buildings need to be divided. Table 6 - Classroom building Stock
Classroom Type Permanent divided Permanent undivided Semi Permanent divided Semi Permanent undivided Temporary Divided Temporary Undivided Total Total area m2 2,735,936 2,197,633 28,127 55,910 38,372 110,422 5,166,401 % of the total classroom area 53.0% 42.5% 0.5% 1.1% 0.7% 2.1% 100.0%

2.4.4 Water, Sanitation and Electricity Facilities Next to classroom facility services are generally considered as the next important facility. Service facilities depend on school as a whole it is more logical to analyse the availability factor in different types of school. At present schools in Sri Lanka is categorized as 1AB, 1C, Type 2 and Type 3. The toilet facilities are the most needed among the facilities. Generally the popular schools where most of them fall into the category of 1AB show the lowest availability factor. This is due to the fact that these schools have toilets but not according the norms. 30% school population study in 1AB schools and availability factor of toilets is around 53%. The current norms whether they are properly applicable to large schools need to be studied. Teacher toilets also show a similar pattern. Most schools do have some water supply but in some cases it is not treated water. Availability of Electricity is more than 97% in 1AB schools and more than 90% in 1C schools. Considering the fact that quite number of schools in conflict affected areas (North and East province and adjacent areas) the availability of electricity can be consi dered as satisfactory. Overall facilities in schools are satisfactory. However, facilities, particularly toilets, will require maintenance and improving.

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11

120%

700%

100%

600%

Availability Factor %

500%

80%
400%

60%
% Students Water Electricity Teacher Toilet Student Toilet 200% 300%

40%

20%

100%

0% 1 AB Schools 1 C Schools Type 2 Schools Type 3 Schools

0%

School Types

Figure 10 - Availability of School Facilities 2.4.5 Science laboratory Facilities Table 7 shows the availability of science laboratories in the system. 1AB schools show a satisfactory level of availability of laboratories. Availability of Chemistry/Physics is around 78% while zoology /Botany is around 45%. Not al l schools of 1AB offer both science streams. Availability of OL science laboratories are 84% for 1AB schools and 78% for 1C schools could be considered as satisfactory. However availability of science laboratories in Type 2 schools is around 40% and avai lability of mini labs (a steel cupboard with minimum science apparatus) is around 22% cannot be considered as satisfactory. According to the current norms all Type 2 schools should have at least a mini lab. A total 30% ( Table 7 ) student population study in Type 2 schools and satisfactory science facilities should be maintained in Type 2 schools. Table 7 - Availability of Science Laboratories
Type 1 AB 1C Type 2 Type 3 OL Labs 83.6% 78.3% 39.8% 1.0% Mini Labs 8.8% 21.1% 21.5% 1.4% AL Che/ Phy 77.7% 2.9% N/A N/A AL Zoo/ Bot 44.9% 0.5% N/A N/A Agri 20.1% 1.0% 0.0% N/A

The analysis shown in Table 7 is the availability of science laboratories and does not show the quality of facility. The norms specify the area of the science l aboratories that the schools should have according to the enrolment. An analysis showed that when laboratories are available in schools those are more than the norms requirement. This may be due to the fact that most laboratories were built before norms were introduced. 2.4.6 Libraries The availability of libraries in different types of schools is shown in Table 8. Some 1AB schools and some 1C schools have two libraries, one permanent and one temporary. The temporary library could be either the library in the primary section or a reading room. 2% of 1AB schools and 8% of 1C schools do not have library facilities and needs attention in the future development. These low percentages particularly related to 1AB sch ools could be partly due to censes errors. Library facilities should be available in all schools. The provision of library facilities to Type 2 schools needs attention. Table 8 - Availability of Libraries
Type 1 AB 1C Type 2 Type 3 Perma nent 75.4% 60.7% 26.2% 3.5% Tempo rary 31.7% 34.6% 29.9% 13.2% Both 8.9% 3.0% 0.9% 0.3% No Library 1.82% 7.65% 44.90% 83.54%

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12

2.4.7 Play ground Facilities The availability of playgrounds in schools is shown in Table 9. Information presented in Table 9 is based on 1999 school censes data (the latest data where availability of playgrounds has been collected). Table 10 gives the details of schools which do not own a playground but the availability of a public playground in the vicinity. The access and availability of a playground for 1AB or 1C schools at a satisfactory levels but playground facilities for Type 2 and Type 3 schools need large scale improvement. Table 9 - Availability of playgrounds in schools
Type 1 AB 1C Type 2 Type 3 Total Schools 531 1799 4126 3864 Schools with Playgrounds 344 1206 2160 1069 % schools with playgrounds 65% 67% 52% 28%

2.4.9 Special Facilities The special facilities of Telephone, Dental and Student Counselling rooms are shown in Table 12. It may be good to provide dental facilities in the school system covering 6km radius and this need to be checked. Application such as GIS for school mapping will be very useful. Student counselling facility is a relatively new facility in the school system. Table 12 - Availability of special Facilities
Type 1 AB 1C Type 2 Type 3 Telephone 86.6% 31.4% 6.0% 3.2% Dental 40.3% 8.5% 0.6% 0.5% Student Counselling 37.3% 11.6% 2.6% 0.6%

Table 10 - Availability of school and public playgrounds

Type 1 AB 1C Type 2 Type 3 Availability of school playground 65% 67% 52% 28% Access to public playground Less than More than 3km 3km 20% 15% 11% 12% 16% 22% 36% 57%

2.4.10 School Furniture and Equipment A reliable data of student furniture, teacher furniture and equipment is not available. These data have been collected in 2003 school censes and seems to be not reliable. This m ay be due the fact that the principals of school may have put lower values for furniture aiming to get new furniture in the future. However school visits generally give the assessment that adequate furniture is available in classrooms. However equipment such as duplicating (Roneo) machines photocopies, type writers, office computers are not adequate. The current student furniture is made with a steel frame and wooden top. Generally furniture is not painted or polished and has a unattractive appearance. Further table tops are not level for proper writing. An improvement to student furniture is required. This could be painting, attaching thin plywood sheet or attaching plastic or fibreglass top etc. 2.5 Trends in School Infrastructure Development It is important to analyse the trends in school infrastructure with time. The school censes collects data related area of school buildings approximately every three years and other facilities such as water and sanitation, laboratories, telephone facilities etc. every year. However the accuracy of some data sets particularly 1999 data set related to classroom spaces is in doubt. The main problem with 1999 data set is that building areas have been collected using square feet as the unit and there seem to be a lo t of data entry errors. 13

2.4.8 Residential Facilities Residential facilities are difficult to assess since the need vary from school to school, geographical areas, type of school etc. There is no norm for student hostels but each school should have quarters for the pr incipal and quarters for teachers according to the size of the school. Considering the norms requirement the facilities for principals quarters and teacher quarters are not satisfactory. Table 11 Facilities
Type 1 AB 1C Type 2 Type 3

Availability of Residential
Student Hostels 21.8% 1.2% 0.3% 0.2% Teacher Quarters 30.0% 35.9% 32.1% 21.0%

Principal's Quarters 44.7% 33.9% 24.8% 18.0%

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However the 1996 data set and the 2002 data sets are of high accuracy and free of such data errors. 2.5.1 Classroom Facilities The analysis given below for classroom facilities is based on data sets of 1996 and 1999. Table 13 - Expansion of Classroom Facility: Permanent Divided
Type of school 1 AB 1C Type 2 Type 3 Total Classroom Facility (Permanent) Area in m2 Area 1996 2002 Growth % 650,352 895,906 37.8% 696,130 818,599 17.6% 679,914 839,095 23.4% 272,614 2,299,010 329,224 2,882,823 20.8% 25.4%

Table 15 - Trends of Providing Residential Facilities

Residential Facilities 1996 1999 2000 2002 2003 Student Hostels 1% 2% N/A 2% 2% Principal's Quarters 24% 24% N/A N/A 25% Teacher Quarters 27% 27% N/A N/A 28%

Note: % were calculated using total number of schools of 1996 2.6 Sources Funding for School Infrastructure Schools receive funds for capital stock development from following sources. 1. Direct funding from the central Ministry of Education. 2. Through Ministries of Education of Provincial Councils. 3. Funds raised by school dev elopment societies such as large grants given by members of parliament through money allocated to electorates development. 4. Funds raised by schools from parents, past pupils and other well wishes. The school censes collects data related funds raised by sc hool approximately every three years. Two good data sets of 2001 and 1996 are available on the funds raised by schools. The funds allocated for infrastructure development by the central ministry of education and education ministries of provincial council are available on annual basis. However all the data related to one particular year is difficult to obtain. Table 16 shows the expenditure pattern for school infrastructure for the year 2002. Data of Table 16 presented is based on actual expenditure of 2002 of estimated expenditure of funds generated by schools based on 2001 censes data. The funding from central ministry goes to infrastructure needs of national schools (mostly 1AB schools) and for special projects mainly funded by donor agencies. A major portion of funding from schools and provincial ministries goes for classroom construction, services such as water and sanitation. A major component of funds generated by sc hool may be from members of parliament, past pupils associations etc. Generally a school has the freedom to spend the money generated by the school even though they need to get the approval from the zonal directors, which has 14

Table 13 shows that the government has invested a lot for classroom facility and the distribution is fair, i.e. investment is not concentrated on a type. However during this period student enrolment did not increase in fact got reduced. The details of student enrolment patterns were discussed in section 2.2. 2.5.2 Availability of Libraries Table 14 gives the deta ils of availability of permanent libraries in different types of schools. According to 2002 school censes data the total number of libraries is 2223 out of total schools of 9829 covered by the survey. There is an increasing trend in all categories and may be due to the intensive library program implemented by the General Education Project II (GEPII). Table 14 - Availability of permanent libraries
Year 1996 1999 2000 2002 2003 1AB 57% 61% 66% 73% 75% 1C 26% 29% 34% 50% 61% Type 2 7% 8% 9% 20% 26% Type 3 1% 2% 2% 3% 4%

2.5.3 Residential Facilities There is no trend of increasing the residential facilities of schools (Table 15).

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generally not declined. Furth er school may commence the ground floor of a new building from funds school and may request provincial ministry to complete the next floor/s. This could be one main reason for high growth of classrooms in 1AB schools where funds generated by schools at the highest. Table 16 infrastructure
Source of funding Central Ministry Provincial Ministries Schools* Total Total US$

2.7 Policy options for infrastructure development The most recent national policy framework on general education is Sri Lanka is stated in the NEC (2004) report. The policy framework is organised in the following areas. Education Opportunity Equity and Excellence; Professional Development of Teachers and Principals; Education Governance/Management; Allocation of Resources for Education; and Education Legislation. Table 17 gives the impact of the recommendations related to infrastructure development.

Expenditure of school
Repair N/A 57.6 297.6 355.2 3.5 Furni ture N/A 147.0 N/A 147.0 1.4 Total 1,119.0 871.7 726.0 2,716.7 26.4

Constr uction 1,119.0 667.1 428.4 2,214.5 21.5

* School development society and past pupil associations, based on 2001 data

Schools 24%

Central Ministry 38%

Provincial Ministries 38%

Figure 11 - Funding distribution for school infrastructure Table 17 - Infrastructure related NEC Policy Recommendations NEC RecommeArea of the recommendation Impact to infrastructure development ndation Number 8, 15, 17 School structure and Primary schools should be organised as feeder Classification schools one or more secondary schools within 5km 9, 12 One school per division should be developed with all facilities. 10, 11 30-50 National schools with excellent facilities. 13 A primary school within 2km and secondary school within 5km 18 Specify minimum requirement of schools 19 Conflict affected areas (CAA) Infrastructure of development of CAA should be considered as special. ENGINEER 15

40, 41, 42 48, 49, 50, 51 59 115

Education for children with disability Curriculum structure Education Technology Allocation of resources for education

Special infrastructure development will be required. Additional learning space will be required. Additional space for computer rooms, computers and software Norm based resource allocation should be made

Policy options can be derived by considering the trends in infrastructure development in the past, trends in student enrolment and proposals given by NEC (2004). Policy options are given below. 2.7.1 Priority orders and available financing It is important to prepare a priority order list considering the policies, the need and available finance. For this it is important to calculate facilities required by all schools according the norms and student enrolment. The priority order of different provinces, education zones can be different considering the available finance. 2.7.2 Classroom facilities Apart from the conflict affected areas many other areas do not need additional classroom spaces. Therefore a policy can be stated not to build new classroom facili ties. Classrooms needing improvement especially undivided halls need to be divided with permanent walls, semi permanent and temporary building need to be upgraded or replaced with permanent buildings. 1AB or 1C schools where the student enrolment is more than 3000 new classroom facilities should not be allowed. Approval of new classroom facilities to be built by ministry allocations, provincial government money, money raised by schools should be subjected to a properly documented planning approval procedure. The overcrowding of 1AB schools and 1C schools by utilising facilities of near by small school by making them feeder schools to bigger schools. To convert excess classroom in some schools to other needy facilities such as science laboratories, activ ity rooms, aesthetic rooms, etc. To prepare priority order schools needing classroom facilities considering gap between ENGINEER 16

the classroom facilities required according to the norms and enrolment and existing classroom facilities on per student basis. This way most needy schools will get the classroom facilities. To treat classroom needs of conflict affected areas as a special urgent need. 2.7.3 Infrastructure facilities Facilities such as water, sanitary facilities should be treated equally among schools an d should be given a high priority. The priority order should be computed on the basis of per student need considering the need according to norms and available facilities. 2.7.4 Technical facilities As per policy proposals of NEC (2004) all the facilities such laboratories should be available in at least one school per education division. All Navodaya schools should facilities according to norms. get all the

An attempt should be made depending on the available finances to provide science laboratories to all schools. 2.7.5 IT facilities IT relatively new facility and one possible option for policy is to provide at least one computer room to 1AB and 1C schools. 2.7.6 Residential facilities To derive a policy on student hostel a study will be required. Teachers quarters are required in remote rural schools to address the teacher deployment issues. Remote schools should be provided with teacher quarters based on strict criteria.

3. School Infrastructure Cost Estimates

3.1 Introduction

The Primary Education Plan [2] and Secondary Education Plan [1] have given cost estimates for School Infrastructure development. These development plans have been produced using the methodology of compiling the requirements stated by school principals, zonal directors and planning officials of provincial education ministries and the Planning branch of Ministry of Education. A clear large variations are present for facilities such as Information Technology, science laboratories, Water and Sanitation etc. amon g different districts and provinces. The school development plans should be according to the norms set by the Ministry of Education. This will ensure the following. 1 Provision of school infrastructure facilities according to a standard. 2 The incorporation of existing facilities and the requirement according to school student enrolment. Therefore in this study a methodology was developed to calculate the school infrastructure requirements according to the norms of Ministry of education, current student enrolment and available capital stock. This was achieved by developing MS Access database of school census data and norms. Details of this development are given later. Development plans should confirm to policies of education for Sri Lanka. Proposed poli cies for the future are stated by NEC ( 2004). Further new policies may be required to set up for school infrastructure considering the information presented in Section 2 of this document. The objective of this study is not to form policies but to present different options available for the development of school infrastructure. Finalization of development plans or adoption of new policies is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and require wider participation from ministry officials, provincial officials, principals, teachers, parents and the general public. 3.2 Current Cost Estimating Methods

director has prepared the zonal plan through a team. Training programs had been conducted for the preparation of the zonal plan. The zonal plans were used to prepare the provincial plan. The plans were adjusted by Ministry planning team and consultants [1]. Chapter 9 of the secondary education plan [1] provides an assessment of the Infrastructure needs of secondary education system for the next five years. The secondary education plan initially states the preparation including the following: i. A situation analysis; policies and policy goals; ii. Objectives to be realized within next five years; and iii. Activities leading to realization infrastructure objectives. However plans had not been prepared in the said sequence instead it covers fou r statements on the current infrastructure situation. The report states that infrastructure deficits of considerable magnitude still persist in all the provinces and probable reasons are: 1 The resources are not provided according to a priority order on log ical criteria. 2 The large out flow of pupils form rural schools to urban thus creating shortage in urban schools and excess in rural schools. 3 Construction of buildings without providing required furniture. The secondary education plan provides a list of infrastructure needs of 109 items. Annex 9.1 of the secondary education plan report gives the details of the same list on provincial basis. A situation analysis, policies and/or policy goals or objectives to be achieved are not stated. The report is critic al of provision of infrastructure without priority order or logical criteria and the secondary education plan [1] too inherits the same weakness. The secondary education plan does not show a clear estimation for infrastructure needs. Table B (cost of oth er activities) of chapter 10 states a cost of Rs. 8,481 (US$ 82 Million) as capital estimate which is the most probable cost estimate for infrastructure needs for the next five years.

In the preparation of Primary education plan and secondary education plan, the Ministry of Education has used a bottom upward planning and cost estimatin g method. The zonal ENGINEER 17

3.3 Cost Estimating methodology of the study The methodology of estima ting the cost of school infrastructure needs is depicted in Figure 12.

plan, zonal development plan and provincial development plan. The current norms of Ministry and other requirements such as computers account to a list of 7 1 items. It is logical to group similar items such as items related to classroom to one group, ICT education in one group, science education in one group etc. Therefore the 71 items are grouped to 8 groups in the preparation of estimates. The total list of items in different groups is given in Appendix A. Table 1 6 shows that current investment for school infrastructure is around US$ 26 Million per year, forecasting a total investment of US$ 130 Million (including donor funding) for the period of 2005 -2009. This will provide 23% of the required and a major improvement of the school infrastructure cannot be expected. However the trends of infrastructure presented in this report and policy proposal given by NEC (2004) suggested that if appropriate policies are implemented reasonable improvement to the school infrastructure can be achieved even at the current rate of investment. Table 18 - Total cost estimate of school infrastructure requirements
Norm Category Total Estimate US$ Million 77 62 53 131 10 141 28 72 574

Start

Create a MS Access database related to : 1. Student enrolment by grade, gender, medium of instruction. 2. Available school infrastructure facilities 3. Current norms

Calculate each school infrastructure needs according to norms and student enrolment

Calculate each school each new facility requirement by calculating gap between facility need and its availability

Calculate the cost estimates of new facility requirements by considering the current rates.

Classroom Teaching ICT Education Teaching Science

Stop

Non-Classroom Teaching Services Residential Facilities Extra curricular Activities School Management Total

Figure 12 - School Infrastructure cost estimating methodology 3.4 Cost Estimates

The co st estimate for the entire school infrastructure based on the methodology depicted in Figure 12 is given in Table 18. All estimates are in US$ and the exchange rate of Sri Lankan Rupee was taken as 1US$ = 103. The estimates presented in the report are pre design estimates and generally the accuracy is in the range of 10% to 15%. The detail cost estimates of each school in different districts are given in the accompanied CD in an Excel worksheet. The details given in the CD can be used to produce each school development ENGINEER 18

3.4.1 Cost Estimates of Types of Schools The breakdo wn of the total cost estimate for different types of schools is given in Table 19.

Table 19 - Cost estimates of different types of schools

Norm Category Classroom Teaching ICT Education Teaching Science Non-Classroom Teaching Services Residential Facilities Extra curricular Activities School Management Total Enrolment 000s Investment per student US$ Cost Estimates US$ Millions Types of Schools Type Type 1AB 1C 2 3 26.7 18.4 4.1 26.7 2.4 18.0 16.7 10.3 123.3 1,148 1,073 20.8 42.8 12.9 55.4 3.5 28.0 11.2 19.6 194.0 1,260 1,540 18.7 0.8 36.0 47.4 3.3 57.5 0.0 26.5 190.2 1,167 1,629 11.0 0.0 0.0 1.8 0.5 37.5 0.0 15.6 66.4 376 1,766

central governme nt especially for ICT education it is possible to achieve requirements within the period of 2005 to 2009. The science education is probably more important than ICT education. The cost estimate for science education in 1AB and 1C schools should receive pri ority. Most 1AB school may have at least one laboratory but it does not satisfy the requirements of the norms. The requirements of Type 2 schools need further study. Probably at least US$ 20 Million may need to be invested to improve the science educati on in the school system. Further it may be possible to achieve this in the period of 2005-2009. Non-Classroom teaching which includes Library, aesthetic rooms, etc. is the second largest cost estimate. The estimate is US$ 131 Million which is more than possible investment within the period 2005 -2009. It may be not possible to provide more than 20% of the requirement in this category (US$ 25 Million). A priority such as a top priority for library may need to be taken. Further analysis shows that total cost of libraries and furniture for library is US$47 Million. The highest cost estimate is for residential facilities which include student hostels, teachers quarters and principals quarters. The total cost estimate is US$ 141 and it more than the tot al investment for the period of 2005-2009. Further it may be waste of investment to provide residential facilities as given in the norms. Probably the teachers quarters in the very remote school should get the priority. Further analysis shows that very remote rural (more than 5km away from urban school) schools need US $ 1.0 Million for teachers quarters. This need may require a high priority. Extra curricular activities cost estimate includes auditoriums, playgrounds etc. Auditoriums can be consider ed as not urgent while playground may be considered as urgent. The cost estimate for playground is US$2.5Million (for 1AB, 1C and Type 3). An allocation of US$ 5.0Million may be appropriate for extra curricular activities infrastructure development. School management includes principals rooms, equipment such as computers for offices, furniture such chairs and tables, cupboards etc. It will not be possible to provide the total estimate of US$ 72 Million in 19

The total classroom cost is US$ 77 Million and Table 19 shows that large component is for 1AB and 1C schools due to overcrowding factor. This investment is not required if a policy is implemented to reduce the overcrowding by utilising the space available in Ty pe 3 schools using Type 3 schools as feeder schools. Further analysis showed that classroom cost of 1AB, 1C and Type 2 schools where enrolment is less than 1000 is only US$ 1.0 Million, US$11.0 Million and US$ 16 Million respectively. Further the population of Type 3 schools where enrolment is low are declining. Therefore the further analyses show that the actual requirement of Type 3 schools is around US$ 6.0 Million. This suggest that if appropriate policy is implemented for the construction new classr ooms the cost of classroom development is around US$34.0 Million, nearly 50% saving (from US$ 77.0 Million). The cost of ICT education was calculated using the basis of at least one fully equipped computer room for all 1AB and 1C schools. The norm for com puters was taken as 10 per primary cycle, 20 for secondary cycle and 20 for collegiate cycle. Further this includes 1 DVD player and TV or Multimedia projector for Types 1AB, 1C and Type 2 schools. Considering the funding from donors and ENGINEER

the period of 2004 -2009. Probably 20% requirement, US$ 14 Million may be feasible for the period of 2005-2009. Table 20 - An Infrastructure investment option for 2005-2009
Investment in US$ Million Norm Category Classroom Teaching ICT Education Teaching Science NonClassroom Teaching Services Residential Facilities Extra curricular Activities School Management Total Type of School 1AB 1.0 13.1 1.6 8.1 1.2 0.0 2.4 1.3 28.7 1C 11.0 30.3 4.9 16.9 1.8 0.0 1.6 2.5 68.9 Type 2 16.0 0.6 13.6 14.4 1.7 0.0 0.0 3.3 49.6 Type 3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.2 1.0 0.0 2.0 3.7 Total 28.0 44.0 20.0 40.0 5.0 1.0 4.0 9.0 150.0

3.5

Provincial Cost Estimates

The cost estimates for different provinces are shown in Table 21. Table 21 further shows the estimate per student. The allocations made by finance commission are more or less same amount for different provinces. Probably this could be changed according to the need so differences among provinces can be eliminated as well a much fair distribution. This need discussions and acceptance. The highest provincial need per student is recorded by the North and East province mainly due to the reasons lack of investment within last 20 years. The North & East province requ ire a urgent investment of US$ 15.0 Million to bring to the average position of school infrastructure in the country or US$ 26.8 Million to bring to the level of the Western province (the best). The investment made after June 2003 (data used for estimation) by special programs is around US$ 8.0 Million. The other two provinces which are below the average facilities are North Western province and Sabaragamuwa province. These two provinces require investments of US$ 6.1 Million and US$ 3.5Million respective ly. To address the issue of equity the above three provinces need special investments

Table 21 - Infrastructure cost estimates of provinces

Norm Category Classroom Teaching ICT Education Teaching Science Non-Classroom Teaching Services Residential Facilities Extra curricular Activities School Management Total Student Enrolment 000's Estimate per Student US$ Province WP 17.3 11.6 8.9 22.7 1.8 27.5 7.4 11.8 109.0 867 126 CP 9.00 8.85 7.41 18.50 1.31 16.21 3.38 10.44 75.1 531 142 SP 10.1 8.3 6.7 16.5 1.3 19.2 4.0 8.7 74.7 522 143 N&EP 19.1 10.0 8.8 22.5 1.6 27.7 3.5 12.6 105.8 624 169 NWP 8.1 8.0 7.3 17.7 1.2 19.5 3.5 9.0 74.4 471 158 NCP 3.8 4.4 4.0 9.2 0.7 7.2 1.7 5.5 36.4 262 139 UP 3.7 4.9 3.8 10.8 0.8 7.8 2.0 6.0 39.7 291 136 SBP 6.4 5.9 5.9 13.4 1.0 15.8 2.5 7.9 58.8 383 154 Sri Lanka 77.3 62.0 53.0 131.2 9.6 140.9 27.8 72.0 573.9 3,951 145

WP Western; CP Central; SP Southern; N&EP North & Eastern; NWP North Western; NCP North Central; SBP Sabaragamuwa ENGINEER 20

3.5.1 Special Cost Estimates The Ministry of education has commenced the development of Navodaya schools. Navodaya scheme consists of at least one school per division to be developed with all the facilities. Further there are National schools with good facilities and managed by the central Ministry of Education. There is an overlap of 25 schools in the two categories of National schools and Navodaya schools. Table 22 gives the details of cost estimates of National and Navodaya schools. The 25 schools common to both categories are included in the category of Navodaya schools. The total cost estimate for the full development of Navodaya and National schools is US$ 11 8

Million. This could be not possible considering the current investment in infrastruc ture development. There are 39 National schools where the enrolment is more than 3500. The estimate for infrastructure cost development of these schools is US$ 66Million. Therefore a policy decision is required on the development of these schools conside ring the proposals for policy development by NEC (2004). Further it can be noted that residential facilities require US$ 17 Million. Hence an investment in the region of US$ 50.0 Million could provide all the facilities required by National and Navodaya schools. This could fulfil the proposals given by NEC for centres of excellence and at least one fully developed school per education division.

Table 22 - Infrastructure cost estimates for National and Navodaya schools

Norm Category Classroom Teaching ICT Education Teaching Science Non-Classroom Teaching Services Residential Facilities Extra curricular Activities School Management Total Student Enrolment 000's Estimate per Student US$ National Schools 15.3 9.1 1.7 14.1 1.1 9.1 9.8 5.5 65.6 657,761 100 Navodaya schools 6.6 10.4 2.9 13.5 1.1 8.0 4.0 5.5 52.0 387,800 134 Total for National and Navodaya schools 21.9 19.5 4.5 27.6 2.3 17.1 13.8 11.0 117.6 1,045,561 21.9 Country Total 76.8 61.7 52.5 130.6 9.5 138.8 27.8 71.7 569.4 3,951,212 144

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3.6 Repair and Maintenance cost estimates Repair and maintenance are important areas of infrastructure development. Unless a reasonable funding is made for repair and maintenance the school infrastructure can deteriorate with tim e. Repair maintenance is very important for services such as water and sanitation, short life equipment such as computers and photocopiers. The repair and maintenance cost of school infrastructure is given in Table 23 based on school cens us data of 2002 and 2003. The repair cost estimated considering the maximum 50% cost of a new item and 5% of the building cost. The current maintenance cost is US$ 10 Million and expenditure may not exceed US$ 1 Million and the total capital allocation for school infrastructure by the Finance Commission is approximately US$ 10 Million. Adequate allocations should be made for repair and maintenance and in no time the school infrastructure could be in extremely bad condition. The rates used for the calculation of repair and maintenance cost of norms are given in Appendix A.2. Table 23 - Repair and Maintenance cost of school Infrastructure
Norm Category Classroom Teaching ICT Education Teaching Science Non-Classroom Teaching Services Residential Facilities Extra curricular Activities School Management Total Student Enrolment 000's Estimate per Student US$ Cost in US$ Million Repair Maintenance 0.61 0.18 0.00 0.00 0.33 0.00 0.00 0.07 1.19 3,941,685 0.30 7.44 0.19 0.39 0.83 0.71 0.18 0.00 0.10 9.83 3,941,685 2.49

4.

Conclusions

The analysis of student population shows a dramatic increment in total student population in the period of 1970 -1990 but after 1990, it shows a stable condition followe d by a slight reduction. When different types of schools are considered, student enrolments in 1AB schools are increasing while the enrolment in other types of schools declining. Although the total student enrolment of type 3 schools shows a reduction, it defers from school to school according to its location. For example, type 3 schools in Pradeshiya Sabbas show rapid reduction in the enrolment while that is not common to schools in Municipal and Urban councils. These variations result some schools to be overcrowded which in turn exceeds the school norms. Therefore school infrastructure investment decisions must be taken considering the following two important factors; 1. Provision of infrastructure facilities according to norms. 2. The incorporation of existing facilities and the requirement according to school student enrolments. Correct information on existing facilities and school requirements must be considered when investment decisions are made. For example, when it is necessary to study the importance of providing an O/L science lab to Type 2 School other than providing a classroom block to overcrowded 1AB school , very accurate information on the student enrolment for several years, actual requirement of the school and the student population variation for the period are needed. The work carried out clearly indicates if correct information is available, more efficient investments in school infrastructure development is possible.

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References
1. Ministry of Education (2004), Five Year National Plan for The Development of Secondary Education 2004 -2008, Ministry of Education, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka Ministry of Human Resource Development, Education and Cultural Affairs(2003), Five Year National Plan for The Development of Primary Education 2004-2008, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Education and Cultural Affairs, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka National Education Commission (2003), Proposals for a National Policy Framework on General Education in Sri Lanka, National Education Commission, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Simmonds M.F., (1977), Accommodation Standards for Educational Buildings, Building Research Establishment, Watford, England. Mallawarachchi, S. (2004) The Importance of Estimating Teacher Requirements in Educational Planning. Moddy, Stephanie a nd Edgell, (2000) David. Planning Delawares school needs : Issues of Location, Design, and Infrastructure, Institute for Public Administration, College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy, University of Delware, Delware, USA

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