The Influence of performances at the grade 5 scholarship examination on the follow-on education : a case study in the Batticaloa district

Abstract

The Grade 5 Scholarship examination has been specifically formulated as a means of identifying the ‘intelligent lot’? among the student population and developing them further via bursaries and other educational opportunities. However, whilst this has been in operation for the past six decades or so, there are different schools of thoughts amongst educators in the island, that this scheme is not entirely a success-story, which fulfils its primary goal. Previous studies in this aspect have been based on ‘holistic’ observations by sociologist-educators. A major criticism of these studies is whilst postulating logical arguments they themselves fails to provide supportive evidence in the form of analyzed data. This research project differs from all previous work as it attempts to bridge applied statistical methodologies and this socio-educational problem thereby giving it some scientific integrity. Statistical analysis based (a routine of Wilcoxon Rank Sum test, Chi- Square tests and Log Linear Modeling) on a specific data set gathered for a case study in Batticaloa for the year 1999 as part of this research reveals that whilst the performances at the Grade 5 Scholarship affect the students’ follow-on education (post Grade 5 studies), the scheme does not necessarily reach the target population entirely. The results further reveal that the highest benefactors of this scheme are the students who come from privileged backgrounds. It is also emphasized that this research should be expanded further to accommodate temporal and psychological elements so that a much more comprehensive understanding of this issue can be reached.