Former VCs pledge support to striking dons

October 2, 2012, 10:04 pm , The Island

by Dasun Edirisinghe

Former Vice Chancellors have pledged their support to the ongoing strike launched by the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA).

FUTA President Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri told The Island that the FUTA members had held a meeting with the former vice chancellors at the National Institute of Business Management Auditorium.

He said that former Peradeniya VC and head of the National Education Commission Prof. Lakshman Jayathilake had chaired the meeting.

"Former university heads asked us what kind of help we needed to win our demands," Dr. Dewasiri said, adding that they had finally decided to involve themselves in reviving the talks with the government.

Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, who pledged to continue negotiations with FUTA, after talks with Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake and Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga failed, had not called them for another meeting during last two weeks, the FUTA chief said.

The senior academic said that except few university teachers, other had not returned to work. FUTA launched the strike on July 04 bringing the academic calendar of all universities to a standstill. The striking dons refused to participate in the GCE (A/L) answer script evaluation and rejected Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena’s request to participate in paper marking. The answer script evaluation has been postponed indefinitely.