Sri Lanka Human Capital Development: Realizing the Promise and Potential of Human Capital

By Harsha Aturupane;Hideki Higashi;Roshini Ebenezer;Deepika Attygalle;Shobhana Sosale;Sangeeta Dey;Rehana Wijesinghe

This book analyzes the main achievements and challenges of human capital development in Sri Lanka, in the context of the World Bank’s Human Capital Project (HCP) and with a special focus on the Human Capital Index (HCI). The report is organized into four parts. Part one consists of two chapters. Chapter one analyzes the pattern of human capital development, as measured by the HCI, in an international context and across the nine provinces of the country. The second chapter analyzes provincial variations in the component variables of the HCI.
Part two of the report is a chapter that addresses the key health and nutrition challenges in Sri Lanka. Stunting is a major issue which is discussed in detail. The success of promoting high rates of child and adult survival has resulted in increasing life expectancy. This has raised the burden of geriatric ailments, and the health care needs of an aged population will dominate the health and nutrition landscape of the country in the future. Chapter three outlines this challenge and discusses policy options to address it in depth.
Part three of the report contains two chapters that analyze the education challenges for future human capital development. Chapter four outlines a program to address the principal human capital challenges facing the country, enhancing learning outcomes and improving socio-emotional skills. Chapter five addresses the challenge of an unusually low participation rate in higher education. This will be a major constraint in the future as Sri Lanka seeks to become an upper-middle-income and subsequently a high-income country. Chapter five discusses a transformation that will be required in higher education development.
The fourth part of the report consists of a chapter that discusses the importance of building public consensus and stakeholder commitment to an ambitious human capital development program.

• Language: English
• Publisher: World Bank Publications
• Release date: Aug 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781464817182

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