Policy of standardization

The policy of standardization was a policy implemented by the Sri Lankan government in 1971 to rectify disparities created in university enrollment in Sri Lanka under Colonial rule. In 1972, the government added a district quota as a parameter within each language.

In 1946 minister C. W. W. Kannangara introduced free education in all the government institutions (Schools, government universities) in Sri Lanka. Government funded all the money by bearing the expenses.

Under the British, English was the state language and consequently greatly benefited English speakers. However the majority of Sri Lankan populace lived outside urban areas and did not belong to the social elite, and therefore did not enjoy the benefits of English-medium education. The issue was compounded further by the fact that in Northern and Eastern regions of the island, where a largely Tamil populace resided, students had access to English-medium education through missionary schools regardless of their socio-economy strata. This created a situation where a large proportion of students enrolled in universities throughout the country were English speaking Tamils and Sinhalese from urban centers like Colombo, particularly in professional courses such as medicine and engineering.

The government policy of standardization in essence was an affirmative action scheme to assist geographically disadvantaged students to gain tertiary education. The benefits enjoyed by Sinhalese students also meant a significant fall in the number of Tamil students within the Sri Lankan university student populace.

University selection of 1971 was calculated based on language they sit. Numbers of allocations were proportional to the number of participants who sat to the examination in that language. As guaranteed before the exam, Tamil share was dropped to the proportion of the Tamils medium students(According to 1971 consensus 27% of the total population used Tamil as first medium).

According to 1971 exam results, a large proportion of the Tamil allocation was enjoyed by Tamils in Jaffna and a large proportion of the Sinhalese share was enjoyed by the Sinhalese in Colombo.

In 1972 government added district quota as a parameter within each languages. 30% of university places were allocated on the basis of island-wide merit; half the places were allocated on the basis of comparative scores within districts and an additional 15% reserved for students from under privileged districts.

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