This study seeks to probe into several inter-related issues concerning the current approaches followed by the Government of Sri Lanka for the delivery of education by the public sector – with a specific focus on issues at the primary and secondary level of the delivery system. These issues relate to the structures, management, staffing and financing of the delivery system and its constituents. The on-going system is evaluated in terms of its relevance to the task of the development of the country’s human resources in such manner as would contribute positively to meeting the current and future challenges of the Sri Lankan economy and society. It is the objective of this study to identify the structural issues which require to be addressed and to examine the vested interests within the polity and the bureaucracy that obstruct them being addressed. It also seeks to suggest changes that need to be brought about and to propose an agenda of action for implementing these changes.The author concludes with an appraisal of what the role of the state would be, in the context of the structural changes that are suggested. This, it is suggested, is an issue that has been avoided in previous reform episodes – based on an uncritical acceptance of an all-pervasive state as the basis of governance.