Government Support for Education Sector in Sri Lanka Provincial Level Analysis

Abstract

Sri Lanka declares to have higher literacy rates with the best primary and secondary education. Yet, concerns have been raised that there is a noteworthy regional disparity in terms of provincial level in Sri Lanka. Rural schools have been surpassed by urban schools as the majority of the national schools with quality and adequate educational resources are located in urban areas such as the Western province whereas the majority of the schools located in rural areas such as Eastern province are under the government of provincial authorities. This problem has worsened the regional disparity in terms of education in Sri Lanka. The present study aims to analyze the adequacy of the support extended by the government for the education sector in Sri Lanka to alleviate the regional disparity in terms of education and inflate the socio and economic wellbeing of the people in all provinces of Sri Lanka. In order to derive the findings, the study uses quantitative analysis in which panel data of nine provinces in Sri Lanka is used and performs LM tests such as Breusch- Pagan test and Hausman test and then corroborates the applicability of the two-way random effect model to arrive at the findings and conclusions. Findings reveal that there is a negative relationship between prosperity index and budget allocation for education, provision of electricity, and availability of public transport services, whereas there is a positive provision of telecommunication services and prosperity index. Further, it was revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the prosperity index and provincial share of GDP in Sri Lanka.