Abstract:
The objective of this paper is to discuss the need to develop school to school linkages, possibly in the form of school
clusters, in order to bring different socio-economic, religious and ethnic groups close together for the purpose of
promoting equity and national harmony in the new millenium. In the first section of the paper under the sub title –
the legacy of colonial education, the devisive and disintegrating trends in the school system during successive
colonial regimes, mainly the British, have been discussed. In the section immediately following, attempts made
towards the setting up of a national system of education on the eve of independence in 1947, and, in the post
independence era have been described. In the third section attention has been paid to the negative aspects of the
present school system which hinder national integration. In the final section the benefits, feasibility and the urgent
need for school to school linkages in the form of clusters have been argued with the fervent hope of forging ahead
for a united Sri Lanka.
