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Sri Lanka navy JournaL 86
The labour force of the Sri Lanka Navy comprises of sailors and officers where
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12
“officers take on management responsibility, and ratings (sailors) can be seen as the
workforce.” Naval officers and sailors remain vitally distinct “in keeping with the hierarchical
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order aboard ship” where throughout history; officers are “trained to be the leaders
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and supervisors of enlisted personnel… (where the) rank, pay and career opportunities
for officers are commensurate with their elevated level of responsibility. The careers of
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officers and sailors “provide rewarding experiences, educational and training benefits, and
competitive compensation” consequent to choice of becoming either, entailing “different
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requirements, commitments and responsibilities. Classically, officers being the cream of the
educated youth were of “the higher-class, distinct from the gentry by virtue of their social
background, Anglicized education, even race and genealogy” as opposed to the sailors who
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traditionally were “rustic recruits, who predominantly came from agrarian backgrounds” .
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Nonetheless, a growing shift of paradigms has been triggered against the rapidly changing
socio-economic climate of the island, notwithstanding the established gulf between the
cadres.

The shifting paradigms in Sri Lanka, post formative years of the Sri Lanka Navy,
heralded through the attainment of substantial socio-economic parity has effectuated a trickle
down effect on education and consequentially the upbringing and social circumstances of
all citizens. The dwindling, once pronounced, social disparity between the standing of an
officer and a sailor is a truth in the global realm of naval affairs and at its crux lies education.
Sri Lanka’s literacy rates and educational attainments have risen steadily having become “an
independent nation in 1948 and today the youth literacy rate stands at 97%.” Sri Lankan
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statistics portrayed State geared “to accomplish its goal of ensuring that all children have the
opportunity to attend school by 2015”23. A critical leftist venture, through the 1950s to the
1970s , in the sector of education bore hard on elitism and the once bourgeoning officer
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11 “All officers other than warrant officers and subordinate officers shall be appointed by commissions under the
hand of His/Her Excellency the President. An officer so appointed is hereinafter referred to as a “commissioned officer”,
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, op.cit., Art. 9(1)
12 Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, ibid,, Art. 12
13 Royal Navy, Officers, Royal Navy, viewed on 22 December 2015, <http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/officers>.
14 Fellman S, Tell Us: Should Officers be Called Sailors?, Navy Times, 2011, viewed on 23 December 2015,
<http://archive.navytimes.com/article/20110701/NEWS/107010320/Tell-usShould-officers-called-sailors->.
15 US Air Force ROTC, Overview, US Air Force ROTC, 2014, viewed on 23 December 2015, <https://www.
afrotc.com/careers>.
16 Military.com, 10 Steps to Joining the Military, Military.com, viewed on 16
December 2015, < http://www.military.com/Recruiting/Content/0,13898,rec_step03_enlisted_ officer,,00.
html>. 19 Military.com, ibid.

17 Athawale Y, Challenges for Military Leaders of Future due to Changing Socio-economic Norms, The United
Service Institution of India, 2009, viewed on 17 December 2015, <http://usiofindia.org/Article/Print/?pub=Journal&-
pubno=579&ano=702>.

18 Athawale Y, ibid.
19 Fullbright, The Education System of Sri Lanka, Fullbright, 2012, viewed on 24 December 2015, <http://www.
fulbrightsrilanka.com/?page_id=609>. 23 Child Fund International, Expanding Access to Education in Sri Lanka, Child
Fund International, 2016, viewed on 29 December 2015, <https://www.childfund.org/Expanding-Access-to-Educa-
tion-in-SriLanka/?no_redirect=true>.

20 The leftist regime “strove for economic self-reliance… In education she unified a diverse array of schools into
one state system, strengthened a national examination system and strove to delink subject syllabi and curriculum texts
from the former colonial power, Britain. Formerly private and denominational schools were nationalised”, Little A, Glo-
balization and Education in Sri Lanka, Revue Internationale D’education de Sevres, 2014, viewed on 27 December 2015,
<https://ries.revues.org/3774>, pp. 7-8