After decades of violent conflict and an education system that failed to foster a sense of national identity and social cohesion, there has been a growing public consensus in Sri Lanka that schools should offer opportunities for children and young people to learn to live together peacefully. As part of their socialisation role, schools are expected to promote civic knowledge, democratic attitudes and socially responsible behaviour. However, as a legacy of Sri Lanka’s colonial past, over 95 per cent of public schools have remained segregated by ethnicity, language, religion and gender. These divisions have contributed to the development of strong group-based identities, while limiting opportunities for interaction and exchange. As a result, stereotypes, mistrust and resentment among different ethno-linguistic groups have been reinforced and perpetuated.

In response to these challenges, and with the aim of promoting social cohesion and reconciliation, German development cooperation supported the Sri Lankan Ministry of Education from 2005 onwards in developing and implementing the national policy on education for social cohesion and peace. Within this framework, the Education for Social Cohesion (ESC) programme was implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

In 2017, the ESC programme, in collaboration with the German Sport University Cologne, developed a concept on "Sport for Social Cohesion and Reconciliation". This concept outlined how sport could be used as a tool to promote social cohesion and how related activities could be designed to be inclusive of people from diverse social and cultural backgrounds. Measures under this approach included the development of a professional training programme for physical education (PE) lecturers and the implementation of an inter-college exchange between the five National Colleges of Education (NCoE) specialising in PE.

The inter-college programme aimed to promote FairPlay games and non-competitive physical activities to foster mutual respect, trust, tolerance, cooperation and responsibility – all essential attributes of social cohesion and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. In addition to the FairPlay activities, the exchange also featured a buddy programme that brought together students from different ethnic and religious communities.

We invite you to have a look at the following teaching and learning materials, which were created by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and our partner organizations in Sri Lanka. 

Football/Netball 3, Sri Lanka
Weber 2018 Englisch

If you want to have more detailed and/or further information about S4D in the country, please have a look at the following publications.

Education, Social Cohesion and Anomie
Blumör et al. 2019 Englisch