Don’t privatise universities in Sri Lanka: JVP, NFF

by Suranee | March 25, 2009 at 03:44 am

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UPDATE 2:

Another university shut down indefinitely two of its faculties today, following a clash which erupted between two groups of students.

June 15, Colombo: Two faculties of Sabaragamuwa University have been closed indefinitely following a clash erupted between two groups of students.

The University officials confirmed that the faculties of Management Studies and Applied Sciences were closed today following this clash.

A group of students were injured in the clash and have been hospitalized. This is the second university to close due to fights between students.

This was the second university which closed within the last few days due to the clashes. The University of Kelaniya had already been closed due to a clash between the students and the residents near the University premises.

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UPDATE 1:

The Police said they do not know the reasons for the attack on the villagers by the university students. 5 of the people who were assaulted by the students have been hospitalized.

June 11, Kelaniya: A tense situation occurred outside the University of Kelaniya as the students of the University and villagers clashed this morning.

Police said that five residents of the neighbouring village have been admitted to Ragama hospital due to an alleged attack by the students of Kelaniya University.

The reason for the clash is not known yet, Police said.

It is yet not known whether the students involved in the attacks were supporters of the JVP or any other political party. The University has been closed indefinitely except for the Medical faculty of the University will function as usual.

The Kelaniya University has been closed indefinitely today following a clash between students and the residents in the area this morning. However, the Medical faculty of the University will function as usual.

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The JVP has been against privatization and one reason some say is because they will no longer be able to use the universities as a haven to brainwash students to cause problems to other students and professors who are against the JVP's ideology. Although Bimal Ratnayake gives the reasons why universities should not be privatised, he has not given the reasons why some students who leave the universities after graduating do not have jobs.

The JVP said yesterday it opposed the policy of having private universities because it would destroy the chance of some students obtaining higher education though the main opposition UNP supported the government on this matter.

JVP front-liner Bimal Ratnayake said UNESCO believed that the most important single factor for a country’s development was education and the party was of the opinion that the establishment of private universities could lead to large scale corruption.

He said the JVP opposed this idea not because it disliked people being educated but due to the fear of a breakdown in the country’s educational system.

"The country has a supply driven university education system with insignificant relevance to labour market and economic requirements.

"About 32 per cent of the students admitted to local universities study social sciences and humanities and a significant proportion of such graduates find it difficult to obtain productive employment; they remain unemployed or underemployed for a long period of time leading to frustration and creating social problems."

Some feel that there is a chance that universities in Sri lanka can improve its education system and give the students a chance to secure proper jobs is if it was privatized. If not, the universities will continue in the deploring state it is and "large scale corruption" will continue to exist. The following excerpt gives a good insight into what is happening in the universities due to neglect, internal social problems, the JVP influence, etc.

Post-secondary education in Sri Lanka's several university campuses is in crisis. Apart from being underfunded and neglected for years by the state, the universities are also plagued with serious internal social problems. These diminish the quality of their programs and impair the preparation of the graduating student. This paper examines several pertinent issues, such as the impact of the ethnic and social-class "quota" admissions system; the backlog of admissions resulting from the closure of the universities for nearly three years in the late 1980s; the lack of discipline; fierce student ragging and intimidation; and the divisive issue of the use in instruction of the English language. The consequences of this faulty educational environment are several. They include the prospect of giving rise to another Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna-style militant organization, and the inability of the university system to produce trained and responsible professionals, inseparable from the state's aspiration to be in a "newly industrialized country." A final, oblique, but not the least implications is the fate of Sri Lankan culture itself.