Sri Lanka’s education system is in the midst of a growing crisis, with a severe shortage of teachers, particularly in urban national schools, according to the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU). The country is facing a deficit of approximately 30,000 teachers, a problem the government has acknowledged but failed to address effectively, leading to significant disruptions in education, especially for students preparing for the G.C.E. Advanced Level (A/L) exams.
CTU Secretary Joseph Stalin warned that urban national schools, especially in Colombo, are the hardest hit by the teacher shortage. He described the situation as a “serious crisis,” highlighting that existing teachers are overwhelmed by excessive workloads, while the demand for qualified educators, especially in English-medium subjects like science, mathematics, and IT, continues to rise. The teacher deficit is having a direct impact on the quality of education, potentially undermining the future prospects of thousands of students.
Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, in a speech earlier this year, confirmed that more than 40,000 teaching vacancies exist across the country, with 2,652 of these positions in national schools alone. Despite efforts to fill the vacancies, bureaucratic delays and legal challenges have prevented meaningful progress, leaving both students and educators in a difficult and uncertain position. Former Education Minister Susil Premajayantha’s attempts to resolve the crisis were unsuccessful, according to industry insiders.
As the shortage of qualified teachers continues to deepen, many students and their families have turned to the private tuition sector, which has grown into a massive Rs. 210 billion industry. Professor Wasantha Athukorala, Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Peradeniya, revealed that the private tutoring sector has seen rapid growth due to the teacher shortage, with an increasing reliance on tutoring to bridge the gaps in the formal education system.
The tutoring sector has become a profitable business, particularly for A/L students, with tutors collectively earning Rs. 210 billion annually, a figure that excludes income from smaller private classes. An estimated Rs. 80 billion of this revenue comes from tutoring A/L students, further emphasizing the growing dependence on private tuition over state-run education.
However, this booming private tuition industry has raised concerns about the well-being of students. Professor Athukorala expressed concerns about the impact of late-night tuition sessions, which have become increasingly common, with classes sometimes running until midnight. This places additional stress on already overburdened students and undermines their overall well-being. Moreover, the private tutoring sector operates with minimal regulation, lacking proper oversight and taxation, which has raised concerns about its long-term sustainability and fairness.
The Ministry of Education has repeatedly highlighted the shortage of teachers, particularly in crucial subjects like English, Science, and Mathematics, but efforts to fill these gaps have largely been ineffective. Teacher unions have raised alarms about the declining attendance rates in schools, especially for A/L and O/L classes, as more families opt for private tuition to ensure their children’s academic success.
The ongoing teacher shortage in Sri Lanka reflects broader systemic issues in the country’s education sector. While private tuition continues to fill the void left by a lack of qualified teachers, it has also raised concerns about educational inequality, as only families who can afford tutoring services are able to compensate for the failing formal education system.
