Literacy & Girls' Education Nonprofit at Work in Sri Lanka

Room to Read Sri Lanka works closely with the government to facilitate our Literacy and Girls' Education programs. Our work is highly sustainable, with local communities continuing the programs once we transition to other under-resourced communities.

Historical context

Over the last half-century, the small island nation of Sri Lanka has experienced drastic change. After centuries of Portuguese, Dutch and then British colonial rule, Sri Lanka gained its independence in 1972. For decades after, Sri Lanka was entangled in conflicts and, ultimately, a 26-year civil war that ended in 2009. The human and economic toll of the conflicts, in addition to a catastrophic 2004 tsunami, still affects the stability of Sri Lanka today.

Most recently, starting in 2019, Sri Lanka has been grappling with one of the worst economic crises in the history of the country. The Sri Lankan economy effectively collapsed as of 2022, as families struggled amid severe shortages of food, fuel, and other essentials, and crippling inflation. Over the last few years, as new administrations implemented economic reforms in response to the crisis, Sri Lanka has begun to experience hard-won, tentative economic and social stability, opening the door to a new era for Sri Lanka.

Room to Read in Sri Lanka

Current learning challenges

Amid Sri Lanka’s uncertainties over the last few decades, the country has worked to prioritize education, acknowledging the importance of education as a key investment in the country’s future. Free education policies have helped ensure most kids can enroll in school, but still, there are significant disparities in the quality of education for children from remote regions or ethnic minorities.

Latest data from 2019 indicate that about 15 percent of children are still not meeting minimum benchmarks by age 10; however, given the recent economic crisis, this rate has likely increased as families have struggled with extraordinarily high inflation, leaving many families unable to afford other education-related costs, such as transportation to and from school, books, and food and clothes.

Further, given the economic strains, there have been limited resources to invest in literacy resources, teacher training programs and more to strengthen the quality of education for students. At the secondary level, especially when many students experience more acute social-economic pressures from their families and communities, which has led to mental health challenges relating to stress, anxiety, depression and interpersonal conflicts, there is an increasingly urgent need to equip adolescents with resilient life skills to navigate the career and personal choices that will affect their futures. Without decisive action, children across Sri Lanka are at risk of never attaining the education they need to set themselves — and their communities — up for success and stability.