In this rich and thought-provoking letter exchange, Naduni Abeywardana, a Sri Lankan student of law, and Joseph Mukasa, a Ugandan science teacher, reflect on the meaning of equality and education in their respective countries. Writing from different corners of the world; Sri Lanka, Belgium, and Uganda, they explore how national histories, legal frameworks, personal experiences, and teaching philosophies shape access to learning and the values it instills. What begins as a conversation about Sustainable Development Goal 4 unfolds into a heartfelt dialogue on belonging, transformation, and what it truly means to educate and be educated.
Letter 1
Dear Joseph Mukasa,
I hope this letter finds you well. Writing to you is a wonderful opportunity for me to share my thoughts on equality and education while also learning about your perspectives and the situation in your country. Before delving into the topic, let me briefly introduce myself.
My name is Naduni Abeywardana, and I’m a Sri Lankan student currently pursuing a Master of Laws at the University of Antwerp. I spent most of my life in Sri Lanka before moving to Belgium, living in a city known both for its precious gems and frequent floods. It was certainly interesting to see people keeping boats near their houses!
I enjoy reading a lot and even have a small library at home. I also play chess for fun. How about you? Do you enjoy reading or playing chess? Before coming to Antwerp, I worked as a lawyer and as an academic. I believe these experiences have helped me better understand the dynamics of education and equality.
To me, equitable and quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning mean several things. First, it’s about ensuring that everyone, regardless of gender, age, religion, or geographic location, has the opportunity to access education. Second, it involves having the necessary resources and mechanisms in place to support continued learning. What does it mean to you? My perspective is shaped mainly by the Sri Lankan context, so I’d be very interested to hear how you see it from your side.
To give you some context, Sri Lanka is a small island nation with a history spanning over 2,500 years. It’s blessed with beautiful beaches and abundant natural resources. Although we have a history of colonization, I want to focus on the more recent past. My country suffered a 30-year civil war that significantly impacted development. Following the war, political corruption has led to an ongoing economic crisis, with citizens now facing higher taxes and limited access to essential goods, including fuel and medicine. Poverty is not a new issue, and I read that over 25% of Sri Lankans live below the poverty line. Most people rely on agriculture, though Sri Lanka is also globally recognized for its tea and spices.
As a lawyer, I’d like to start with the legal aspects of equality and education. According to the Sri Lankan Constitution, equality is a fundamental right; everyone is considered equal under the law. One of the most admirable practices in Sri Lanka is our commitment to free education at the primary, secondary, and higher education levels. Neither my parents nor I had to pay for school or university. Legally, every child under the age of 14 must attend school. In this sense, Sri Lanka implements formal equality in education quite well. Public schools do not charge tuition, printed materials are provided, and the government even distributes fabric for school uniforms.
However, there are still significant gaps when it comes to substantive equality. While the law provides for equal access, real-life conditions often undermine this right. For example, many families cannot afford basic school supplies like shoes or notebooks. Some children don’t even get three meals a day, and these harsh realities push them into work at a very young age. I’ve seen children working as domestic helpers, and it was heartbreaking. I doubt they understand why other kids their age go to school while they are made to work.
The quality of education is another issue. Not all children receive the same level of instruction or opportunities. A student from Colombo, for instance, might study science in both English and Sinhala, while a student from a rural area like Ampara might not even have a qualified science teacher. These disparities make it feel like equality in education is a concept that only applies to a privileged few. What do you think? Is equal education a reality in your country, or does it remain more of a utopian ideal?
Let me share one example where Sri Lanka attempts to address these educational disparities. Admission to public universities is based on the results of the Advanced Level examination. To balance the playing field, students are selected using a district-based quota system known as the Z-score. This means students are compared only with others from the same district, which helps those from less-resourced regions stand a better chance. Still, as you can imagine, this system doesn’t fully eliminate inequalities in education.
As someone who has benefited from free education, I feel both grateful and ethically obligated to give back. I’ve thought of a few possible solutions. One is encouraging university students to volunteer by teaching in under-resourced schools. Do you think that could work? Another idea is using technology to ensure that all students, regardless of location, can access the classes they need. This comes with infrastructural challenges, of course, but with the right policies, it could be a step forward.
I’m very interested to hear about the situation in your country. How do you address equality in education? Does gender play a role in educational access or quality? How does your legal system support or hinder educational equality? Are you personally satisfied with the direction education is taking?
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
With warm regards,
Naduni Abeywardana
Letter 2
Dear Naduni Abeywardana;
I thank you so much for your letter about one of the powerful SDG numbers, 4, in your country. It was so interesting to learn about education in Sri Lanka, and the provocative questions in the letter. Your experience with learning from Sri Lanka is very informative and educative as well, and I think you have one of the best education policies in the world (one with free education from primary to the university). I would equally love to respond to your letter by sharing a lived experience about my profession as a teacher in one of the schools in Uganda called Luigi Giussani High School (https://lg-schools.org/). With this experience, I think it was a great representation of true education as enshrined in SDG 4, and I hope this experience may try to answer some of the provocative questions in your letter (maybe).
I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in science education (biological), and this qualified me to teach biology and chemistry in high school. I finished university with zeal, very energetic, as I was ready to practice my profession of teaching. I was among the lucky people (maybe) in Uganda to encounter a school that transformed my life and entirely changed my perception about education. To me, education was a mere imparting of knowledge to the students as taught by the university. On my first day of teaching, I went with the perception that I knew it all and students would learn from me as a custodian of knowledge. I looked at students based on their outlook, weaknesses in academic performance, and background, and often judged them. However, in this school, I realized that instead of becoming a teacher, I was turned into a student because every moment in this school became a learning event. I was able to be educated to realize that education was not a mere imparting of knowledge but communicating oneself, because you can’t give what you don’t have. I was educated to appreciate all learners as being unique because regardless of one’s identity/background—whether poor, rich, gender differences, sick, healthy, etc.—they all mattered and had the same infinite value. After understanding this, everyone and everything around me gained value, and I started paying a lot of attention to the small details.
One notable experience that I remember is when I entered a class, and after the lesson, a student came to me and told me, “You know what, teacher? I felt bored in your entire lesson.” As a teacher, you wouldn’t want to get such feedback because it makes you feel so small in front of a learner (back then). I then asked her why she had felt so. She later told me that I hadn’t given them a chance to contribute in the lesson; instead, “I was teaching myself.” I kept on reflecting on the student’s feedback and checked on my teaching methodology. After a few more lessons of teaching, she later came back to me and said that she was enjoying the lessons finally, because I was involving all the learners. To me, this was a learning moment that showed that learning is best achieved with freedom, where learners are free to share how they want to learn. Additionally, it was a moment that echoed to me that “teaching is the adult way of learning.”
In this school, we as teachers were educated that learning takes place when a learner feels loved and belongs to a group that looks at their strengths rather than weaknesses. Students reached out to teachers with freedom and comfort whenever they wished, and actually, every learner was allocated a “guardian angel”—someone who would personally journey with this student. The staffroom was very open to them, unlike in many other Ugandan schools. This kind of freedom with students was so, because even our bosses would treat us the same way, loved us, and every day you would wake up in a happy mood to go and work because you know you are leaving home and going to another home, hence the slogan “Luigi is home.”
Also, allow me to share with you another experience in the same school that explains true education. One day, I went with my laptop to the classroom for a biology lesson, then in the middle of the lesson, I went out for some simple engagement. I remember it was a period towards the end of the school term, and students were soon writing their end-of-term exams. The following week was the exam period. One morning, as I was supervising students during a S.6 biology exam, I saw one of my students with a cheat sheet that he was referring to while answering. I went closer and realized he had entered the examination room with an external material that had the exact questions as the exams. Of course, I was angry. I called him out and carried out my investigations on how he had gotten the exam. He later identified to me his other colleagues in the company, and they explained how they had obtained the exams. According to them, they had transferred the entire folder of the exams from my laptop onto their flash disc as I had moved out of the classroom. I became more frustrated and shared this with the school administrators. They were equally angry and decided to suspend the students from school as a punishment for examination malpractice.
Afterwards, I went out and reflected on everything that had happened. First of all, I had reasons as a teacher to be blamed for being careless and leaving the laptop in the class, well knowing it had exam materials. Secondly, I asked myself: if these students are sent away, where are they going? Which kind of society is going to receive them? Will I have educated them? Is this how I would have loved to be educated? Ok fine, they did something wrong, but does that take away the fact that they are like me, with the same infinite value? All these thoughts came into my mind also after reflecting on how the school and everyone treated me. I quickly went back to my bosses and explained myself with all the above questions and asked for forgiveness on their behalf. Luckily enough, the administrators understood my concern. We later talked to the learners about the meaning of education, educated them about their actions, and then forgave them. To my happiness as an educator, these students later became changemakers and a great example to other students in school, and as I talk right now, one is a lecturer at one of the universities in Uganda, and the other graduated with a first-class degree in environmental sciences. I felt that they acquired complete education through someone who communicated their own self to them, which enabled them to discover themselves. It felt to me that every child should get a chance to be educated holistically, not only the mind but also the heart and the body.
During our days of schooling, we used to be subjected to corporal punishments like caning, carrying bricks, etc., and according to our teachers, it was a form of education. However, with this kind of education in this school, you completely see no reason for corporal punishments. With such punishments, learners normally become scared of their lives and education as well. Secondly, apart from inflicting pain and a teacher’s relinquishing anger, no education takes place with such punishments. It’s the first school I encountered where education takes place without corporal punishment in Uganda. I was educated that whenever the learning environment becomes free for a learner, they feel a sense of belonging and love. This enables them to love everything around them, value and respect everyone, and the environment. They will appreciate a clean environment, won’t litter the environment, and this fosters lifelong learning for the 21st century as enshrined in SDG 4.
I hope my lived experience has been able to give you a sneak peek into what I regard to be complete education that is fit for the 21st century, and I hope it has been able to try to answer a few questions you highlighted in your previous letter, much as I may not have answered them directly. I would therefore love to conclude this letter by asking you to critically think about these questions:
- How would you feel being educated in an environment where you feel free, loved, and belonging?
- What do you think about education being defined as “communicating one’s self”?
- What does it mean to you about education being a way of discovering one’s self?
- What do you think about “teaching is the adult way of learning”?
- How would the world be if everyone understood that they have the same infinite value?
- Would you love to become an agent of holistic education?
Lastly, I invite you to this school and live the experience!
Yours sincerely
Joseph Mukasa
Letter 3
Dear Joseph Mukasa,
Thank you for such an interesting letter. Your explanation of your school reminded me of a book I once read titled Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window. It tells the story of a mischievous little girl who was expelled from several schools. Eventually, she attends a school with a headmaster who recognizes her talent for communication and helps her grow within an environment that nurtures individual abilities. I especially loved the phrase you used to describe your school’s philosophy: “…a learner feels loved and belongs to a group that looks at their strengths rather than weaknesses…” It made me realize that your system focuses on the child and their mental well-being, which I admire deeply.
Thank you also for sharing your experience of a child cheating in an exam. It reminded me of something that happened during my first year of university back in Sri Lanka. One of my classmates was caught with extra material during an exam. My university had a strict policy against academic misconduct, and after a disciplinary hearing, the student was banned from taking exams for five years. Since this was a government university, the ban also prevented him from sitting any government exams. After the ruling, I never saw him again and later heard he had returned to his village.
What disturbed me most was that the system never allowed me (or anyone) to understand what led him to cheat. Nor did it encourage any discussion about what a five-year ban could do to his future. If education is supposed to build a better future, I believe that purpose wasn’t fulfilled in his case. That’s why I admire what you did with your students so much. I respect your willingness to accept your own mistake in forgetting the computer, and the accountability you took for it. More importantly, your efforts to ensure that the students weren’t simply banned from school show that your approach to education is truly sustainable. You clearly care about fairness and quality, not just rules.
Have I ever felt loved within the education system? Honestly, no. I went to school because I had to. My sister hated it even more than I did. University was different; we had more freedom to learn. But do I think education should happen in a friendly and loving environment? Absolutely. Schools can either uplift a child or completely suppress their potential. I’ve seen many brilliant, talented children who never thrived simply because the school didn’t support them. Did I try to change this? I did what I could. As I mentioned, I worked at a university, and I always tried to ensure that each student received equal respect and attention, even when I had to manage classes with over 400 students! I made an effort to appreciate their efforts and also learned a lot from them. Still, I believe Sri Lanka’s school system has a long way to go compared to the one you work in.
I believe education is about discovering what we truly want to do in life. It helps us understand what we are good at and what we can become good at. But are our education systems designed to help children become what they want to be? In Sri Lanka, the system mainly separates students into two categories: those who are “book-smart” and those who are not. The book-smart students go to university and are pushed toward the so-called “respectable” careers such as doctors, engineers, and lawyers. What happens to the other category? If the parents have money, they get the opportunity to continue their education. If not, they do any work that is available for them. I wish the education system had developed different types of skills so that it could develop children with different abilities.
Is it the same in Uganda? Does your education system encourage children to follow their strengths and passions, or does it also carry deep-rooted beliefs about which fields are more prestigious or valuable?
You asked me what I think about the idea that “teaching is the adult way of learning.” Based on my experience, I believe adults tend to be more self-driven learners, and teaching becomes a guiding tool rather than a form of direct instruction. When I was studying constitutional law during my Bachelor’s degree, our professor often reminded us that the university is a space for exchanging knowledge, not for traditional teaching. Adults (legally defined as those above 18) are usually capable of understanding what they want to learn, and quality education at that level is about giving them the space to explore, reflect, and contribute. It’s also about respecting their views. Do you think teaching in a university and school serves the same purpose? Or do they differ?
You also asked, ‘…how is the world going to be when everyone understands they have the same values?’. I wish I could answer that easily. It would be beautiful if every person knew they were equally valued. But in reality, especially in education, it’s not that simple. Practicing equality is difficult due to economic, political, and geographical challenges. In the current context, convincing students and teachers that everyone deserves equal value is not easy. Because the reality is quite different from it. That said, I understand your point; the end goal should be equality. Everyone deserves to feel that they are valued.
How do you think we can move closer to equality in education? Should we start with structural reforms like new laws, policies, or should it begin within society itself? I’m still trying to figure out which path would be more effective.
I strongly believe in holistic education. For me, sustainable education is closely tied to holistic development, which is nurturing the child as a whole person. To become a true agent of holistic education, I believe I still need more training. I come from a system that focused on only one aspect of development, and I’ve had to do a lot of unlearning to be able to contribute meaningfully. I’m still learning and trying every day. Was it easy for you? To change the way you thought about teaching? I saw that you improved your teaching mechanisms, but was it challenging? How did you change it?
Can you tell me more about Uganda? What’s your overall view of the Ugandan education system? Do most schools follow the same approach as yours, or do many still use more traditional teaching methods? Also, how do you feel about equality in your context? Does gender play a significant role in access to education?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts about education and the system in Uganda.
Yours Sincerely
Naduni Abeywardana
Letter 4
Dear Naduni Abeywardana,
I hope you are doing well with your studies, especially now that you are nearing the end of the semester. I understand there is a lot of coursework and assignments on your table, but still, you spared some precious time to write to me. I appreciate you so much.
When I read your letter, I was glad that my experience in education at Luigi High School was encountered in a fictional manner through the book you mentioned, and it’s interesting to know that I was living part of the reality of the book. I have looked up its digital version and I am reading it. I am also touched by your experience about a student who was banned for five years from sitting exams, it’s so sad that he didn’t receive education through others. The fact that he even went back to the village reveals a lot about how education should be looked at, first, not just as a means to pass or do exams, but the complete person without limiting them to their weaknesses. I guess if he were allowed to be educated from his mistake through another person who loved him, he would have been a better person today. He never felt loved or a sense of belonging, because people around him focused on his weaknesses rather than his strengths. Also, his teachers lost an opportunity to be educated from his experience. By sending him away and having no conversation about his experience, they locked up their minds from seeing the other side of life, which probably had much more knowledge than what they perceived to have.
One time, one of my former bosses through his trainings said, “…even when a student said NO to your request as a teacher, there’s is a reason behind that No which you need to find out from them and it is only possible if they feel loved and belonging otherwise we risk mis-educating our children”. For this reason, I would like to refer you to a book titled “The Risk of Education”, which explains the fundamental heart of education revolving around love, belonging and the fact that all humans have the same infinite value (equality).
It is so unfortunate that you were never loved through education, and that the situation was worse with your sister. This, in my view, is one of the major sources of school dropouts in many parts of the world, more so the developing countries. I believe that a school should be an environment that supports learning and where learners feel loved and free to be educated. I love the fact that you mentioned a very nice statement, and I quote “….I believe education is about discovering what we truly want to do in life”. I perfectly agree with you, and in addition to this, education should take place in the presence of someone who is an “authority”-one whom a student is attracted to.
It’s also unfortunate that in the Sri Lankan education system, children are classified into “book Smart” and “those who are not”. This also normally happens in many schools in Uganda, too. This kind of approach deprives many students of the opportunity to explore life beyond academics in school, it obstructs their competencies, values, and skills outside academics. This is one of the reasons why Uganda is rolling out the old lower secondary curriculum, which was knowledge-based, to a new competence-based curriculum. This curriculum not only focuses on the knowledge aspect but also the competencies, including values and skills a learner can achieve through their education. It’s more learner-centered, contrary to the old curriculum, which was teacher-centered. Much as its implementation is still facing setbacks since its inception 4 years ago, it’s seen as a major revolution in the Ugandan education system.
About your question, “Do you think teaching in university and school serves the same purpose? Or do they differ?” In the Ugandan context, I feel there is a great disparity in how these two levels view education. One looks at it as a way of passing exams (especially in the old curriculum), suppressing opportunities for acquiring other skills and values, and the other one (university) gives freedom to students, which is not maximally utilized for learning and inquiry. I perfectly agree with your professor in this statement, and I quote “…our professor often reminded us that university is a space for exchanging knowledge, not for traditional teaching.” and that “It’s also about respecting their views.”. This is what I also think should be, because it allows everyone to contribute towards knowledge and also learn from each other’s knowledge, but still, it has to be facilitated by someone who understands what education is.
Thank you for raising provocative questions as mentioned in your letter, for example;, “How do you think we can move closer to equality in education? Should we start with structural reforms—new laws, policies—or should it begin within society itself?”. My take on these questions is that policies or whatever it might be may not change much, though they are necessary. In my view, we first need to understand who we are as human beings, the moment every one of us understands the fact that we have the same infinite value regardless of one’s economic, political, racial, faith or gender differences, there are shall be sustainable equality, one that is not defined by documents but by who we are as human beings. Still, allow me to refer you to the book “The Risk of Education”.
In your letter, I loved the statement “..I’ve had to do a lot of unlearning to be able to contribute meaningfully..” This kind of humility is the way to education. We need to feel empty every time to give space to learning. Unlearning is one major avenue to learning and generally to education.
“Was it easy for you? To change the way you thought about teaching?”– Well I won’t say that it was easy, it took some good time but I was lucky that I was surrounded by people who were “an authority” to me- again the term “authority” has a rich meaning in this context (someone who attracts others). I strived to be an authority to others around me, so it was always a process involving support from everyone around me.
“I saw that you improved your teaching mechanisms, but was it challenging? How did you change it?” Initially, it was challenging since I was locked into the ideology that education was about “imparting knowledge into a student,” putting me as a teacher at the center of education, which was wrong. The moment I made my learners the center, I unlearned everything, and the change was so smooth. It looks abstract, but the experience is interesting.
About your question, “What’s your overall view of the Ugandan education system?”-I would say, the past has been challenging, given that the curriculum wasn’t in tandem with the needs of the society. It was focusing on knowledge rather than competencies. However, with the currently introduced curriculum, there is great hope for a fundamental transformation in Uganda’s education system. “Do most schools follow the same approach as yours, or do many still use more traditional teaching methods?”– I can say Luigi Giussani is a model school for the current nationally adopted competence-based curriculum. I remember since its inception way back in 2012, it emphasised a continuous assessment approach rather than the summative way, which many Ugandan schools were using not until four years ago when the formative(continuous assessment) was made official through the new adopted curriculum. I would simply say that the school was 10 years ahead of other Ugandan schools by the time this happened.
“Also, how do you feel about equality in your context?”-Equality is about us as human beings; we ought to understand that we have that infinite value that shouldn’t be defined by anything about us. When we understand this, we shall have to treat others the same way, as simple as that. Without equality, there is no sustainable development. “Does gender play a significant role in access to education?”- Gender plays a very significant role in access to education. For example, in Uganda, the perception of educational attainment was gender-based, with more focus on males than on females, which had the consequence of few girls enrolling in schools. Currently, many avenues are in place to uplift the girl child in educational attainment, including an additional 1.5 points for girls joining the university, free primary and secondary education for all, among others. These have currently increased girls’ and boys’ enrolment in schools. I hope I have answered your interesting questions.
Allow me to end my conversation here, and I thank you for your letter. Feel free to ask me for any more details about the Ugandan education system anytime.
Yours sincerely,
Joseph Mukasa