Primary schooling in slums and shanties:a case study of four slum and shanty communities in Colombo

Abstract

The growing recognition that pure economic criteria do not adequately measure social developmenr,has led to the emergence of a set of social indicators to measure social development.Primary school attendance is one such social indicator.Among the Third World countries,Sri lanka has achieved a good measure of social development on many indicators including primary school attendance, but with pockets of vulnerable groups where primary school attendance is poor.The urban underprivileged communities are believed to be one such group.This case study of four slum and shanty communities in Colombo reveals that while primary schol attendance inthes communities is in fact a little better than the national average attendance, yet it is below the Colombo district and Colombo District Urban Sector averages.The study explores the factors contributing ti this disparity.A significt finding is that the relativery poor primary school attendance in these communities is less due to Poor economic conditions and physical disabilities of the chidren than is generally believed. The major contributive factors are the incapacity of the Schools to absorb all children seeking primary school admission,poor housing conditions,and parental negligence in having children admitted and attend school