While the authorities had taken steps to set up private educational institutions some 1,500 schools in the country on the verge of shutting down as they did not have the money for maintenance, the Maoist Ceylon Communist Party said. Addressing a public lecture organised by the Inter-University Student Federation (IUSF) the party’s Secretary Surendra Rupasinghe said a large number of schools did not have basic facilities such as buildings, classroom furniture, computer laboratories, libraries and other resources necessary for education development.
He said the vast majority in the country would not be able to afford the expensive education services promoted by the authorities. “They are trying to politicise the education sector in the country. A transformation of the social order is needed to change the education structure,” he said.
Inter-Medical Faculty Students' Action Committee President Nilan Fernando alleged that the government attempted to create division among student communities to fulfil their own agendas. “We urge the authorities to protect the education system in the country and to refrain from setting up institutions that have no legitimacy. They have no legal right do it,” Fernando said.
Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) President Nirmal Devasiri said the education system faced major challenges which was visible by the vast protests by student and academic communities and said that a change in policies was required to sustain the education in the country.
The public lecture was attended by a number of students, academics and individual from political groups. (Olindhi Jayasundere)
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