📈 Sri Lanka 2026 Reforms: Addressing the English Literacy "Bottleneck"

A new economic analysis warns that Sri Lanka’s ambitious shift toward AI and STEM may be derailed unless the "lexical bar"—the threshold of English reading fluency—is addressed at the school level. • The Economic Cost The state currently bears a "double cost" by funding primary education and subsequent remedial English programs at the university level. This inefficiency creates a productivity ceiling, stalling the workforce in low-value activities and hindering the service sector from competing with regional hubs. • The "Lexical Bar" Threshold Students must transition from "learning to read" to "reading to learn" by Grade 11. Failure to cross this linguistic threshold leaves graduates unable to access English-medium curricula or master discipline-specific technical content in ICT/BPM, Science, and Business. • Policy Recommendations The 2027 deferment of the Grade 6 English syllabus offers a window to integrate the Science of Reading (SoR). Experts advocate for: Systematic Phonics: Explicit instruction in the 250 combinations of the alphabetic code (not just 26 letters). Strategic Retrofitting: Using the 2027 delay to update NIE Teacher Guides and Grade 6 modules. Equitable Access: Moving beyond elite backgrounds to ensure state schools provide foundational literacy. _Summary based on 2026 educational reform data._