Editorial 

Water cannon & flames of unrest

August 30, 2012, 7:10 pm , The Island

The JVP has a peculiar attitude towards higher education. When universities are open, it wants them closed and when they are closed, it wants them reopened!

In the late 1980s, during its second uprising, the JVP coined a catchy slogan, 'Motherland first, Degree second––palamuwa maubima, devanuwa upadiya––to justify its efforts to disrupt universities and involve undergrads in protests against the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord and terrorist activities. Dissent was violently suppressed and undergrads, teachers and others who put up resistance were gunned down. Its slogan for schoolchildren was 'Motherland First, Education Second'––palamuwa maubima, devanuwa pasala.

But, today, the same political forces are braving water cannon and tear gas to have universities re-opened. What a volte-face!

On Wednesday, a large number of undergraduates led by JVP dissidents turned Colombo into a mini-battle field by trying to march to Temple Trees. They were demanding that universities be re-opened and university teachers' grievances redressed immediately. The riot police liberally used teargas and water cannon to disperse the protesters. The government had better brace itself for more such protests as ideology-driven student groups are sure to regroup and try to make a comeback.

One may not endorse the modus operandi of protesting undergrads who hurled projectiles at the police. However, one cannot but agree with them, in spite of their political motives, that the time has come for the government to swallow its pride and resolve the dons' strike through negotiations so that universities could be reopened without further delay. The Cabinet is said to have worked out a formula to solve the problem, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

The government cannot resolve the university crisis by closing universities, and water cannon cannot douse the flames of political unrest spilling over onto the streets. Earlier, Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake boasted that only a section of university teachers had gone on strike and the strikers were reporting back for work in response to a government appeal to that effect. But, no sooner had he made that claim than he had to close the universities!

The government is apparently trying to turn public opinion against the striking lecturers by keeping universities closed indefinitely and blaming it on the strikers; its propagandists have already embarked on a campaign to vilify the office bearers of the Federation of University Teachers' Associations (FUTA). It is hoped that university dons will not play into their hands by boycotting the GCE (A/L) examination answer script evaluation due to commence shortly. Such action may serve the purpose of disruptive political elements riding the FUTA piggyback, unable to gain political mileage otherwise, but will certainly anger hundreds of thousands of children, their parents and well-wishers.

The government's waiting game is not going to work. Minister Dissanayake sought to justify his 'crackdown' on JVP student unions by claiming that universities had to be rid of politically-motivated student outfits and kept open at any cost. His tactics have apparently yielded results to a considerable extent. The JVP is no longer active in some universities and is fast losing its grip on others. But, Minister Dissanayake has done exactly what he once accused the JVP of; he has closed the universities! It is a supreme irony that he is now coming under pressure from JVP student activists to reopen universities! This is an interesting role reversal as it were.

Protracted labour disputes are like old anthills into which venomous snakes creep. Hence the need for the university crisis to be resolved through negotiations urgently! Regrettably, the government's arrogance knows no bounds. It seems to believe that simply because it commands a two-third majority in Parliament and is winning elections with the Opposition in total disarray it could railroad the striking dons into giving up their struggle easily. Its arrogance is likely to be its undoing.

UGC to submit Z-score settlement decision on Sep. 3By Chitra Weerarathne

August 30, 2012, 9:57 pm , The Island

The Supreme Court yesterday advised the University Grants Commission (UGC) to submit on Sept. 3, 2012, settlement in respect of the 2011 GCE A/L Z-Score dispute.

Faiz Mustapha PC, counsel for the UGC, told the Court that several meetings had been held between the members of the UGC, counsel for the petitioner students and the Attorney General. The outcome had been a success.

The petitioner students had recently filed a motion complaining that the authorities had pooled together the re-calculated Z-Scores of the candidates who sat under the examination under the old and the new syllabi. The Court on June 25, 2012, ordered the UGC to re-calculate the Z-Score treating the two syllabi as separate populations.

In the motion, recently filed, the students who sat the examination under the old syllabus have complained that the pooling together of the recalculated Z-Scores of the two populations is unfavourable to the old syllabus candidates. Their chances of university admissions have been impaired, they claim. President’s Counsel Palitha Fernando, the Attorney General appeared for the State.

J. C. Weliamuna and Saliya Pieris appeared for the student petitioners.

The Bench comprised the Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake and Justice K. Sripavan.

FUTA demand for 6 % of GDP for education: Free education not factored in – govt.

August 30, 2012, 9:59 pm , The Island

By Ravi Ladduwahetty

The Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) had not taken the component of free education, in calling upon the government to allocate 6 per cent of the GDP to the education sector, the government charged yesterday.

The FUTA was demanding that the government spend 6 per cent of the GDP on education as in the developed countries in the West, but it had not factored in free education at primary, secondary and tertiary education level, Media Minister and government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told the weekly Cabinet news conference at the government Information Department auditorium yesterday.

The Minister said the people who were clamouring for higher fund allocations for the education sector talked only about funds allocated from national budget but they failed to take cognisance of the funds provided by the Finance Commission to Provincial Councils.

Minister Rambukwella said out of 9,700 schools in Sri Lanka only 330 were maintained by the government while the others were run by the Provincial Councils. "How many of them have factored in the quantum of funds allocated for tuition classes and the funds parents pay on behalf of their children for education in private and international schools?" the Minister queried.

Dons snub govt. stick to their main demandsby Dasun Edirisinghe

August 30, 2012, 12:00 pm , The Island

Although the Cabinet of ministers had decided to establish a special category of service for university lecturers and appoint a high-powered committee to monitor the implementation of proposals submitted by the university lecturers, the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) has refused to give up its on-going strike.

FUTA president Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri told The Island they would not suspend the trade union action until all demands were met, practically.

The Cabinet of ministers on Wednesday night endorsed the views expressed in the joint memorandum, submitted by Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapakse and Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayaka that university teachers should be treated as a special category.

The Cabinet also decided to appoint a high-powered committee to monitor the implementation of the proposals agreed between the university academic staff and the authorities concerned.

It was also agreed that there should be an effective dialogue with the university academics and they acknowledged the need to make university academics active players in the development strategy of the government.

Dr. Devasiri said they would not accept those decisions as the government had forgotten the several other demands submitted by them.

"The cabinet did not talk about our salary hike or allocating 6 per cent of the GDP for education," he said.

The FUTAchief said that those Cabinet decisions were included in the Mahinda Chinthanaya policy document, too, but were yet to be implemented.

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

FUTA’s main demands are the allocation of 6 per cent of the GDP for education, consulting them when decisions are made on the higher education system and a pay hike.