Medical Faculty staff bring out their woes

July 10, 2012, 10:08 pm 

by Dasun Edirisinghe, the island

The Faculty of Medicine Teachers’ Association (FMTA) of the Colombo University said yesterday that over the successive years funds allocated for higher education had progressively declined when compared to the country’s inflation and other countries in the region.

President of the FMTA Dr. N. D. N. A. Mendis told The Island that it had led to a crisis situation, where the universities found it difficult to retain quality academic staff.

The inability of the universities to make the working conditions attractive and conducive, had resulted in brain drain of academic staff, he said.

"If we are to take an example from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Colombo, two of our lecture theatres and the main building of the Anatomy Department were demolished over four years ago with a view to putting up a more spacious new building, which was approved by the University Grants Commission and the Cabinet of ministers," Dr. Mendis said adding that up to now it had not materialised.

According to the senior academic, their faculty had to conduct over 35 examinations annually. At present, those examinations were conducted using examination halls of other faculties, and private institutions.

It had caused enormous inconvenience to the staff and students alike, he said.

Dr. Mendis said that the communication allowance given to the specialists in the Ministry of Health had not been approved for the university clinical staff who were incharge of wards providing patient care. Such discrimination caused frustration amongst the academic staff.

"We demand that the government fulfill those grievances immediately to protect the quality of university education of the country," he said.

‘Z-score’ advisory committee meets today

July 10, 2012, 9:23 pm 

by Dasun Edirisinghe, the island

The committee appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to advise the University Grants Commission (UGC) on how to implement the Supreme Court directive on the calculation of the ‘Z score’, would meet for the first time today.

The six-member committee, headed by Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, includes Chancellor of the Peradeniya University P. W. Epasinghe, Prof. R. O Thattil, Prof. Sarath Kulatunga, Prof. Sarath Banneheka and Prof. P. Ariyaratna.

Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court ordered that the ‘Z-score’ be calculated separately for students who sat the GCE (A/L) examination under the new and old syllabi in 2011.

The committee would meet at the Presidential Secretariat.

Universities paralysed for the seventh day

FUTA signature campaign against govt.

July 10, 2012, 9:49 pm 

by Dasun Edirisinghe, the island

The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) yesterday said that they would collect signatures from the public beginning tomorrow for a petition against the government’s delay in solving their problems.

The universities remained paralysed for the seventh day yesterday due to the strike launched by the university teachers.

FUTA media spokesman Dr. Devaka Weerakoon said that they had collected signatures for the petition from all universities during last week.

"Our target is to collect one million signatures," he said.

Dr. Weerakoon said that the FUTA would hold a discussion with Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga on Thursday.

FUTA launched an indefinite strike on June 04 demanding the allocation of six per cent of GDP for the education sector, engagement of university teachers in the decision making process related to the higher education sector and a pay hike.

‘Turmoil in the knowledge hub’ - a reply

July 9, 2012, 7:33 pm , the island

The article titled ‘Turmoil in the Knowledge Hub’ by Dr. Laksiri Fernando states that he had credible information that there was interference with the student lists selected for university admissions. It is indeed very sad to note that my learned teacher has got his facts wrong. As the Chairman of the University Grants Commission, I take full responsibility to state that there is absolutely no interference of any sort in the selection of students. The process is considered as one of the most sacred functions in the higher education system, and the officers responsible for this process maintain the highest level of integrity and honesty. We always ensure that truth and justice prevails in the selection process, and that all applicants are treated as equals and that there is equity in the process. It is ironic to note that those who do try to influence are often those who espouse higher ideals of democracy and academic freedom from the academic community itself.

I do not know who this credible source is, that divulged such incredible information to the writer, and it is indeed very sad to note that a senior academic has resorted to penning down such information without verification. As a senior academic who has stayed in the system through thick and thin and put the students and their education before personal aggrandisement, I take full responsibility for this statement and I have the facts to prove what I say.

The second statement is that there is a tug-of-war between the UGC and the Department of Examinations and that there is an apparent breakdown of confidence. I have to mention that each institution has its own roles and responsibilities that are very clearly delineated in the system. The two institutions mentioned here have always maintained a very good understanding of these roles and responsibilities and have respected each other’s functions. We have no tug-of-war. As any administrator is fully aware, there is a need to adhere to the procedures and protocols that govern the two institutions, as we are accountable to the general public. Hence, we continue to function with a very good understanding and have identified the common ground where collaboration is necessary in dealing with complex national issues - the intricacies of which, do not seem to be all that clear to the writer.

Professor Gamini Samaranayake,

Senior Professor/Chair,

Chairman of the University Grants Commission,

Colombo 7.

Sri Lankan education then and now

July 9, 2012, 7:31 pm , the island

For a long period of time, many letters have appeared in your journal dealing with education in the country. These have covered practically all aspects of the subject – but the fact remains that we all know that it is still in a "glorious mess."

This writer, who graduated 62 years ago and became a professional in his field, remembers with nostalgia what education was in the country then. There were no strikes, no inhuman ragging, no mass suspensions, no hold ups simply because those who entered the institutions of higher education then came to learn and not to fool, or play politics.

There were several institutions which produced the professionals required by the country such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants, architects, teachers etc. These people had one thing in common; discipline and the ability to mingle among themselves with ease and dignity, though they were in different professions.

It would not be irrelevant to mention here what a famous scientist at the time said regarding university education that he would wish to have in UK, then. The scientist was the physiologist, Professor Lord Douglas Adrian, Nobel prize winner for Medicine, Vice Chancellor, University of Cambridge, President of the Royal Society and an Order of Merit. The occasion was the annual meeting of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, in London.

The subject was ‘University Education in Britain’. He summed up his speech with the following words; "the university education I wish Britain to have is one where a lawyer sitting side by side with a historian, should be able to discuss poetry."

This country, struggling to solve the problem or education, is still so far away from the above ideal that in the opinion of this writer, we will never ever be able to come even close to this ideal.

The writer hopes that the two ‘great guns’ in our Ministry of Education will see this ‘little piece’.

An Old Timer,

Colombo 4.

Kelaniya dons meet to decide on strike

July 9, 2012, 9:53 pm , the island

by Dasun Edirisinghe

 Lecturers of the Kelaniya University have been invited to a special committee meeting of their union tomorrow to decide whether to join the ongoing all out strike launched by the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA).

FUTA President Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri told The Island that teachers of medical faculties, Kelaniya and Uva Wellassa Universities had yet to join the ongoing trade union action.

FUTA launched an indefinite strike on June 04 demanding the allocation of six per cent of GDP to the education sector, engagement of university teachers in the decision making process related to the higher education sector and a pay hike.

Dr. Devasiri said, 60 teachers of the Kelaniya University had asked their university union’s parent body to join the strike and they had called a special committee meeting for that purpose.

He said that there were no trade unions in the newly formed Uva Wellassa University and teachers there, too, were in the process of forming a trade union.Although medical faculty teachers did not participate in the strike, they had endorsed the FUTA demands, Dr. Devasiri said.

Dr. N. D. N. A. Mendis of the Faculty of Medicine Teachers’ Union, of the Colombo University, told The Island that his association, too, would join the strike if the government did not meed the FUTA demands.

Dr. Devasiri said that FUTA would participate in the second round of the discussion with Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga on Thursday.

* University academics of Sri Lanka launch website to collect signatures for a petition to win demands
Sun, Jul 8, 2012, 07:16 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

July 08, Colombo: University lecturers in Sri Lanka currently engaged in a strike have launched a website to collect signatures for a petition to seek support to their demands.
The Federation of University Teacher's Association (FUTA) has commenced the website to create awareness of the reasons for its trade union action.
FUTA Head, Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri has said that the trade union action of the university academics was not only to win a salary increase.
He has observed that the university lecturers were concerned about the issues faced by the education sector.
He has noted that the Z-score issue was just the tip of the iceberg and that there are far more serious issues faced by the country's higher education and the education sector as a whole.
Dr. Dewasiri reiterated that the government needs to address these issues immediately.
However, FUTA is to hold a discussion with Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga on the 12th of this month to try and resolve issues.
The FUTA website can be found at www.futa-sl.org.

IMPORTANCE OF UNIVERSITY TEACHERS’ STRUGGLE

July 8, 2012, 12:00 pm , the island

Opening a sports complex in Nawalapitiya on July 2nd, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that his aim was to create a "healthy" generation that could win the world. Given the context of the speech, he was obviously referring to the enhancement of the physical health of the people, to be precise, the younger generation, the thaarunyaya, of the country. This expressed commitment to enhancing the physical health of the younger generation is no doubt a noble one. Nevertheless, in a context where the mental health of the same generation is virtually ignored and the concept of health is reduced to physical health, this commitment becomes rather problematic.

Universities in general and state universities in particular play a central role in defining the mental health of a society. They operate as the main sites of knowledge production and dissemination. One of their main aims is/should be to produce thinkers who are "more open than usual". However, the present situation in Sri Lanka with regard to the state universities of the country indicates that this noble role assigned to universities is increasingly being undermined and devalued. The alleged death threats to the faculty members who are leading the ongoing trade union action, the introduction of laws and regulations that have a critical impact on the country’s tertiary education sector without any consultation with the broader academic community, cheap comments made by the "patrons" of the university system with the aim of ridiculing the university lecturer’s role, the militarization of the university system through the so called leadership training given to the incoming students, and the increased political interventions that are taking place in the university system indicate the degree of this devaluation.

In a context where the pressing problems in the university sector in particular and the education sector in general are being totally and consistently ignored, the President’s statement reflects the dominant outlook that seems to value muscle power over intellectual power in today’s context.The readiness with which the government spends huge sums of public money on promoting sports, sometimes even with the help of Bollywood stars who are flown to and from the country at the public’s expense,points to the marked superiority that physicality enjoys over intellectuality in the current Sri Lankan society.

The demotion of intellectuality and promotion of physicality harmonize well with the militarization that is taking place in our society. The success of the militarization process largely depends on its ability to divert the younger generation, better known as the thaarunyaya in the present political rhetoric, from intellectual activities. The destabilization of the state university system is a necessary step towards achieving this goal. The blind-eye-and-iron-fist theory with which the current problems in the university system are being dealt with should be understood in this broader context.

In such a context, the current trade union action launched by university lecturers could be seen as an attempt to swim against the massive tide of militarization. It reminds both the rulers and the public that the primacy of intellectual power needs to be (re)established over muscle power. It sends a clear message to the rulers that the intellectuals do not approve of the ongoing militarization of society. It reminds society that producing sensitive human beings and thinkers who are "more open than usual" is more important than producing human machines that can only play roles that are already defined for them. Above all, it points to the crucial need for protecting the state university system as the oasis of intellectual freedom of the Sri Lankan academia.

Nandaka Maduranga

Kalugampitiya

Teachers oppose attempt to ‘militarise’ schools

July 8, 2012, 10:18 pm , the island

The Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union has called upon the general public to join it in urging the government to defeat a move to offer the rank of colonel to school principals.

In a media release’ signed by General Secretary of the CTSU Mahinda Jayasinghe, the union says that the government is preparing the ground to militarise the local school system by converting school principals into Colonels of the National Cadet Corps, coming under the purview of the Ministry of Defence.

"We condemn this move to militarise the schools. This would result in producing children being trained to follow orders from top without questioning them," Jayasinghe says in the release.Interviews had been held on July 04 and 05 at the National Cadet Corps headquarters in Kirulapone for principals and educational directors to select the first batch of colonels under the proposed scheme. Those selected would be directed to undergo one week’s training and on completion of it they would be commissioned in the rank of colonel of the NCC which has the powers of same rank in the Sri Lanka Army.

Jayasinghe says the main reason given for the government decision to promote principals and educational directors to the colonel rank is the deterioration of discipline in the school system. It is true that discipline within the school system has hit the rock bottom, but there are several reasons this situation, the teachers’ union says, condemning the government’s alleged move and requesting parents and the general public to exhort the government to abandon its plan to militarise the school system.

FUTA campaign website launched

Further talks with Lalith Weeratunga on Thursday

July 8, 2012, 10:03 pm 

By Dasun Edirisinghe, the island

University teachers engaged in a campaign demanding a salary increase have launched a website to increase public awareness and to collect signatures for a petition to seek public support to win their demands.

President of the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations, Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri has said that the trade union action launched by the university teachers was not only for winning a pay hike but also to remedy the ills of the education sector.

The ongoing strike action would be continued until their demands were met. The representatives of the FUTA would hold a discussion with Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga on July 12 to try and resolve issues, FUTA sources said.