Standardization and ethnocracy in Sri Lanka

Neil DeVotta

No wp-2022-86, WIDER Working Paper Series from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER)

Abstract: Standardization was the scheme that replaced meritocracy in Sri Lanka education, with positive discrimination to increase the majority Sinhalese community's university enrolment. It did so by minimizing better-qualified minority Tamils' university entry, even as the quest for Tamil separatism was gaining ground. The government claimed the scheme was justified to create a more balanced representation in science-based university fields, but it was among the policies that contributed to the island becoming an ethnocracy.

Keywords: Education; Standardization; Quotas; South Asia; Ethnic inequality; Affirmative action (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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