Person: Aturupane, Harsha
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Last updated: February 21, 2024
Biography
Harsha Aturupane is a lead economist at the World Bank. He has also been the
country sector coordinator for human development for Sri Lanka and the
Maldives, and the program leader for human development for the Maldives,
Nepal, and Sri Lanka, at the World Bank. He has worked and written extensively
in the fields of human development, education economics, higher education,
general education, labor economics, welfare economics, and the economics of
inequality and poverty reduction. He has led teams in the preparation and
supervision of World Bank projects and programs covering higher education, general
education, health, social protection, economic reform, private sector development, and governance processes. He has a PhD and MPhil in economics from the
University of Cambridge and a BA in economics and diploma in economic development from the University of Colombo.
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Publication Enhancing STEM Education and Careers in Sri Lanka(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-06-20) Subasinghe, Shalika; Sosale, Shobhana; Aturupane, Harsha; Holtz, Paul; O’Malley, AnnIn recent decades, the Sri Lankan government has introduced reforms aimed at enhancing education access and quality, as well as emphasizing the importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), which are crucial fields for economic development and social inclusion. “Advancing STEM Education and Careers in Sri Lanka” examines how access to STEM education can affect enrollments at various levels (lower, upper secondary, higher education, and technical and vocational training) and careers in the labor market. The report also analyzes STEM education status by gender at the central, provincial, and district levels, and it highlights factors that enable and hinder the achievement of desired outcomes. The report offers a wide range of interventions to boost student access and teacher training, including developing digital learning materials and technology-based tools to broaden service delivery, facilitate learning, and support an inclusive public education system. In addition, it proposes policy options at the central and provincial levels. The findings and recommendations can be used to guide policy and investments to achieve the country’s potential to expand human capital, foster inclusion, contribute to economic development and competitiveness, promote recovery from the economic crisis, and build resilience.Publication The Impact of Sri Lanka’s School-Based Management Program on Teachers’ Pedagogical Practices and Student Learning: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial(Taylor and Francis, 2021-12) Aturupane, Harsha; Utsumi, Tomoko; Wisniewski, Suzanne; Shojo, MariEducation is widely accepted as a key determinant of economic and social development. Developing countries have made substantial progress in increasing school enrollment rates in the last 50 years, but in many countries’ students are not learning the skills that the curriculum sets as the goals of their education. One policy that has been advocated by experts and international development agencies is school-based management. This paper investigates the effectiveness of a school-based management policy recently introduced in Sri Lanka, the Program for School Improvement (PSI). The PSI established new management structures and provided training and support services in order to: (a) devolve decisions for a range of activities to the school level; (b) increase the participation of parents and the local community in the work of the school; and (c) focus schools’ efforts on student learning. To evaluate the effectiveness of the PSI on measures of school performance, a randomized controlled trial was conducted. Overall, the data show some evidence of changes in the behavior of both principals and teachers in the PSI schools, but most of the observed behaviors did not change. Turning to student learning as measured by test scores, there are also no statistically significant effects, although the (imprecisely) estimated impact on math scores (0.21 standard deviations) is moderately large.Publication Sri Lanka Human Capital Development: Realizing the Promise and Potential of Human Capital(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-08-13) Aturupane, Harsha; Higashi, Hideki; Ebenezer, Roshini; Attygalle, Deepika; Sosale, Shobhana; Dey, Sangeeta; Wijesinghe, Rehana; Aturupane, HarshaHuman capital is a central determinant of economic well-being and social advancement in the modern world economy. The concept of human capital covers the knowledge, skills, nutrition, and health that people accumulate over their lives, enabling them to realize their potential as productive members of society. Because of the vital importance of human capital for economic growth, the World Bank has launched the Human Capital Project (HCP), which includes the Human Capital Index (HCI). The objective of the HCP is to accelerate human capital development around the world. The HCI is a cross-country metric designed to measure and forecast a country’s human capital. Sri Lanka is a lower-middle-income country seeking to become an upper-middle-income country. Developing human capital to a new and higher level will be central to achieving this development goal. After the country’s 26-year secessionist conflict ended in 2009, Sri Lanka’s economy enjoyed rapid growth at an average rate of almost 6 percent between 2010 and 2017, reflecting a peace dividend and a determined policy thrust toward reconstruction and growth. However, in more recent years there have been signs of a slowdown. The economy is transitioning from a predominantly rural economy to a more urbanized one. In the context of the HCP and the HCI, Sri Lanka Human Capital Development analyzes the main achievements and challenges of human capital development in this East Asia and Pacific island country in health and nutrition—including stunting—and in education—including the challenges posed by Sri Lankans’ low participation in higher education. The report concludes with a look at the importance of building a consensus among the public and other stakeholders to launch an ambitious human capital development program in Sri Lanka.Publication Teaching English as a Second Language in Sri Lankan Primary Schools: Opportunity and Pedagogy(Taylor and Francis, 2019) Little, Angela W.; Shojo, Mari; Sonnadara, Upal; Aturupane, Harsha; Aturupane, HarshaPolicy guidelines in Sri Lanka prescribe how and for how long English should be taught as a second language in primary education but practices on the ground may deviate. Opportunities for teaching and learning and pedagogy are key aspects of the process of learning. Using a large-scale survey this paper addresses (i) how much time is allocated to the teaching of English and how much time is lost, (ii) how English teachers use their time in primary education classrooms and (iii) the factors associated with student-centred learning and on academic learning in general. Around a quarter of the class time is lost through timetabling, teacher absenteeism, lesson start and finish times and teacher off task activity. Teachers who spend more time teaching in class are more likely to be in rural or estate schools and in schools with more facilities, and to have attended the Primary English Language Programme in the past. Teachers who spend more time on student-centred activities are more likely to be teaching Grade 3 than Grade 5, using remedial methods and holding an official ‘appointment’ as an English teacher. Policy implications for Sri Lanka are considered and points of comparison with policies and practices elsewhere raised.Publication Gender Dimensions of Education Access and Achievement in Sri Lanka(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-08) Aturupane, Harsha; Shojo, Mari; Ebenezer, Roshini; Aturupane, HarshaSri Lanka is a lower-middle income country with an impressive record of achievementsin economic and human development. Despite 26 years of conflict, Sri Lanka, an island countrywith a population of 20.6 million has stood out from its regional counterparts with high levels ofhuman development. Sri Lanka’s score in the Human Development Index (HDI) is 0.766—whichput the country in the high human development category (UNDP 2016). The country has also hasalso witnessed significant economic growth in recent years: in 2017, its per capita income was3,842 (UDS), more than four times that of its GPD in 2002. With these achievements, it has nowadvanced the economic ladder, from a low to a middle-income country.2. Policy makers are keen to build on the country’s successes and to ensure that the benefitseconomic growth are distributed equitably in the population. Sri Lanka is poised to grow, witha development strategy expressly aimed at fostering strong and equitable growth for its entirepopulation (Bhatta, Ebenezer and Nyugen 2014). Despite its achievements in human development,the country has had persistent pockets of inequity, by region, as well as population sub-group- andsocial inequity, whether caused by gender, economic disadvantage, or any other factor, over a longperiod of time, that has limited the potential benefits of growth (Aturupane 1999a; Dundar, Millot,Riboud, Shojo, Aturupane, Goyal, and Raju 2017). Sri Lanka’s policy makers recognize this andunderstand the importance of ensuring equitable growth.Publication Sri Lanka Education Sector Assessment: Achievements, Challenges, and Policy Options(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2017-06-08) Dundar, Halil; Millot, Benoit; Riboud, Michelle; Shojo, Mari; Aturupane, Harsha; Goyal, Sangeeta; Raju, Dhushyanth; Aturupane, HarshaA country’s education system plays a pivotal role in promoting economic growth and shared prosperity. Sri Lanka has enjoyed high school-attainment and enrollment rates for several decades. However, it still faces major challenges in the education sector, and these challenges undermine the country’s inclusivegrowth goal and its ambition to become a competitive upper-middle-income country. The authors of Sri Lanka Education Sector Assessment: Achievements, Challenges, and Policy Options offer a thorough review of Sri Lanka’s education sector—from early childhood education through higher education. With this book, they attempt to answer three questions: • How is Sri Lanka’s education system performing, especially with respect to participation rates, learning outcomes, and labor market outcomes? • How can the country address the challenges at each stage of the education process, taking into account both country and international experience and also best practices? • Which policy actions should Sri Lanka make a priority for the short and medium term? The authors identify the most critical constraints on performance and present strategic priorities and policy options to address them. To attain inclusive growth and become globally competitive, Sri Lanka needs to embark on integrated reforms across all levels of education. These reforms must address both short-term skill shortages and long-term productivity. As Sri Lanka moves up the development ladder, the priorities of primary, secondary, and postsecondary education must be aligned to meet the increasingly complex education and skill requirements.Publication Returns to Education in Sri Lanka : A Pseudo-Panel Approach(Taylor and Francis, 2015-01-30) Himaz, Rozana; Aturupane, Harsha; Aturupane, HarshaThis study employs a pseudo-panel approach to estimate the returns to education among income earners in Sri Lanka. Pseudo-panel data are constructed from nine repeated cross sections of Sri Lanka's Labor Force Survey data from 1997 to 2008, for workers born during 1953–1974. The results show that for males, one extra year of education increases monthly earnings by about 5% using the pseudo-panel estimation rather than 9% as in the ordinary least-squares (OLS) estimation. This indicates that not controlling for unobservables such as ability and motivation biases the OLS estimation of returns upwards by about 4% on average, driven mainly by what happens in urban areas. It also suggests that males with higher ability seem to be acquiring more years of education. This is contrary to what has been observed recently in countries such as Thailand [Warunsiri, S., and R. McNown. 2010. “The Return to Education in Thailand: A Pseudo-Panel Approach.” World Development 38 (1): 1616–1625], where the opportunity cost of education seems to be high, such that high-ability individuals leave education for the labour market.