Govt. destroying education system the way it wiped out LTTE – Ranil

August 6, 2012, 10:14 pm, the island


by Zacki Jabbar

 The UNP and the United Socialist Alliance (USA) yesterday launched an interaction with various stakeholders in the education system with a view to countering what they called the government’s retrograde policies.

A group of nearly 300 university teachers, former directors of education and members of the administrative service participated in the discussion at the Parliamentary Complex with UNP and USA leaders including Ranil Wickremesinghe, Joseph Michael Perera, Tissa Atttanayake, Ravi Karunanayake, Kabir Hashim and Sritunga Jayasuriya.

Wickremesinghe said that the government instead of improving the education system was destroying it with a sense of vigour that it had displayed in the last stages of the war against the LTTE.

Resolving the complex problems that had crippled the education sector required skill, understanding and an enlightened approach. The attitude of the President and his Ministers of Education and Higher Education left much to be desired, Wickremesinghe noted.

Wickremesinghe said that the opposition had already presented two private members motions to parliament to ensure that all students received free education until they completed their higher studies.

As a beneficiary of free education it was his wish that future generations should also be given the same opportunity, the UNP leader said.

The university teachers in response said that they wanted at least six percent of the GDP to be allocated for education and not the measly 1.8 percent at present. Their demand for a salary hike and issues such as the Z-Score should be implemented in a practical and efficient manner. Failure to resolve their grievances would result in continuation of their trade union action, they said.

The interaction ended with all participants agreeing to meet shortly to assess the situation and decide on a future course of action.

No uni. admissions unitil Z-score dispute settled

UGC informs Supreme Court

August 6, 2012, 10:05 pm , the island

By Chitra Weerarathne

 President’s Counsel Faiz Mustapha yesterday gave an undertaking to the Supreme Court that no admission would be made to any of the universities for the academic year commencing on October 15 until the complaint filed by the old syllabus students was settled.

Mustapha made the submission appearing on behalf of the University Grants Commission (UGC) in the fundamental rights violation application filed by a group of GCE A/L students who sat the 2011 examination under the old syllabus.

Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake asked Attorney General Palitha Fernando PC, whether he believed that the UGC had taken the relevant steps as ordered in the Supreme Court judgment of June 29, 2012, to recalculate and re-issue the Z-Score for the GCE A/L August 2011 examination, taking the old and new syllabi as different populations.

The Attorney General replied that the UGC had abided by the Court order, re-calculated the Z-Scores and re-issued them. However, a difficulty had arisen in the selection for admissions from the two populations. The UGC had consulted a team of academic experts and pooled the two sets for ranking to work out university admissions.

He said that if anybody was aggrieved, he was ready to talk to the relevant parties and arrive at a settlement favourable to all.

The Chief Justice said that the Supreme Court judgment clearly had clearly stated that the two syllabi were different populations and they should be dealt with separately. They should not have been pooled together. If the UGC had had a problem in understanding the judgment, the UGC should have consulted the Attorney General who would have moved the Court for a clarification, she said.

In this fundamental rights violation application, a group of GCE A/L students, who sat under the old syllabus complained to the Court that subsequent to the Supreme Court judgment of June 29, 2012, the UGC had re-calculated the Z-Scores, taking the two syllabi separately. After the recalculation of the Z-scores some of the old syllabus students who earlier qualified to enter universities had been left out, the petition said.

Counsels Sanjeewa Jayawardene and Saliya Pieris, who appeared for the petitioner students, took up the position that the Z-score of old syllabus and new syllabus students should not be ranked together to pick the new entrants. The judgement had clearly indicated to treat the two syllabi as separate populations.

The Supreme Court granted leave to proceed with the fundamental rights violation of the old syllabus students. The next date of mention will be August 30, 2012.

Attorney General Palitha Fernando told the Court that he would look into the possibility of a settlement, and making amends.

Faiz Mustapa PC, said that the UGC would withhold admissions till the matter was finalised. He appeared with Kushan de Alwis, Kaushalya Nawaratne and Mrs. Faizer Marker for the UGC.

Sanjeewa Jayewardene appeared with Niranjan Arulpragasam for a group of petitioner students.

The Attorney General, Palitha Fernando PC, appeared with Senior State Counsel, Nevin Pulle, for the Commissioner General of Examinations and the Minister of Education.

The Bench comprised Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, Justice K. Sripavan and Justice S.I. Imam.

FUTA awaits phone call from Basil

August 6, 2012, 10:14 pm

by Dasun Edirisinghe, the island

 Striking university teachers are awaiting Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s call for the next meeting as a sequel to last Wednesday’s discussion.

FUTA President Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri told The Island that at the end of the discussion they had agreed to meet shortly.

He said that the FUTA members had met Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe on the invitation of the UNP in Parliament yesterday.

"Not only us, but also all trade union members of the education sector participated at the meeting which discussed issues related to the entire education sector," Dr. Devasiri said.

The senior academic said that the labour commissioner, too, had summoned a meeting last Thursday.

The FUTA demands that six per cent of the GDP be allocated to the education sector, they be consulted when taking decisions on the higher education system and their salaries be increased substantially.

Dr. Devasiri said that they would not stop the strike until all their demands were met.

When contacted by The Island for comment, Secretary to the Higher Education Ministry Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne said the discussions would be continued.

He said that the issue was now being handled by the Presidential Secretariat.

Non-academics renew their strike threat

August 6, 2012, 9:55 pm

by Dasun Edirisinghe, the island

University non-academic staff yesterday once again threatened to launch an all out strike, if the government did not meet their demands before August 10.

Spokesman for the Inter University Trade Union Joint Committee Wijayathilake Jayasinghe told The Island that when they struck, from June 06 to 26, the government promised to rectify their salary anomalies before August 10.

"We called off the strike on that assurance, but the government has still to issue the necessary circulars," he said.

Jayasinghe said that the circulars in this regard should be issued by the National Salaries and Cadre Commission in association with the Higher Education Ministry.

He said there was a need to rectify the anomalies in their salaries from 2007, but the successive governments cheated them by always making promises that the anomalies would be corrected but they never did it.

Secretary to the Higher Education Ministry Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne said they would look into the demands of the university non-academic staff.