Improving Sri Lanka’s Learning Outcomes: Get the ABCs Right before Following Others!

Poor quality education systems are a main underlying cause for the ‘learning crisis’. Education systems fail to function effectively due to both ‘misalignment’ and ‘incoherence’, which, if left unaddressed, impede the effectiveness of interventions to improve learning implemented at the school and student levels. Therefore, the author argues that, countries like Sri Lanka cannot simply borrow system elements from other countries and expect them to work well in the home context, without first improving the education system.