The island's primary school net enrollment rate is as high as 97.5 percent, said Kamal Abeysinghe, the head of Edex Expo 2009, an education exhibition to be held in January 23-25 next year to promote education options for youth.
But, he said, the lack of continuity in Sri Lanka’s education system is to blame for youth in the country who follow a life of crime.
Abeysinghe said that currently 400,000 children enter the formal education system annually.
But about 80,000 (18 percent) students drop out before completing the ordinary level (O/L) examinations.
Weakness in the education system in the country means that most of these youth can’t find employment and many end up in the local prisons for various crimes, Abeysinghe said.
"Apparently, more than 70 percent of inmates in our prisons are supposed to be school dropouts or illiterate people," said Abeysinghe.
In 2007, out of 333,000 students who sat for six subjects or more in their O/L examination, only 159,000 (48 percent) were qualified to proceed to the Advance Level (A/L) stage.
The same year, 60 percent of students had failed the English paper in their O/L examinations and just over half failed in mathematics and science.
Inadequacies in the island's university system also meant over 100,000 A/L qualified students were denied the chance to further their education, said Abeysinghe.
Inadequacies in the island's university system also meant over 100,000 A/L qualified students were denied the chance to further their education, said Abeysinghe.
Then we can control population growth and promote environmentally , low- impact living.