IUSF on threats to students lives

Dailymirror
The Inter University Student Federation (IUSF) today questioned why the authorities had still not investigated the assault against two Jaffna University students which took place last month and appealed to the government to protect the rights of university students.

IUSF Spokesman Sanjeewa Bandara said that several university students, including the two who were severely assaulted last month receive death threats over the phone and that there lives are constantly under threat.

“The attacks against the two students from the Jaffna University have still not been investigated. The government has remained silent on his matter but it is there responsibility to protect the rights and freedom of university students who do not have the freedom anymore to talk about their problems,” Bandara said. (By Olindhi Jayasundere)

SRM University opens campus in Sri Lanka

India’s privately-run SRM University has entered Sri Lanka, setting up its international campus in the Capital.

Welcoming the commencement of operations of the Chennai-based university, the Minister of Industry and Commerce Mr. Rishath Bathiyutheen said the arrival of international education institutions will give the students in Sri Lanka alternatives in higher education.

“SRM’s arrival will help strengthen historic relations with our neighbour India due to the knowledge transfer benefits we will have. I am given to understand that SRM has a wide range of degree qualifications to help our youth to seek more avenues including medical,” he said.

The Sri Lankan government is encouraging international universities in the country to woo foreign students despite opposition from Marxist JVP or the People’s Liberation Front student unions.

Unions claim that private universities will violate the essence of free education system in the country.

The government, however, has assured that 20 per cent seats of the international universities to be set up here would be reserved for local students.

A report in the Daily News said the university offers all facilities equivalent to any international university encompassing their own hospital for medical students, and own Hotel for the hotel management students. (Source: PTI)

Unemployed graduates demand immediate filling of govt. vacancies with them

November 6, 2011, 10:43 pm

by Dasun Edirisinghe

Unemployed graduates who had been waiting for nearly a decade for jobs, yesterday, demanded that the government fill the remaining vacancies in the public sector with them immediately.

Media Spokesman of the Combined Association of Unemployed Graduates (CAUG) Dhammika Munasinghe told The Island that they would launch a countrywide poster campaign from today (07) to make people aware as the first stage of their agitation.

"We will stage protests in each province as the second step of the campaign," he said adding that the first three protests would be held in Southern, Central and North Western provinces which were the provinces with most unemployed graduates.

The UPFA government, which came to power in 2004, provided 42,000 jobs for graduates under the then President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Munasinghe said.

He said that there were about 5,000 unemployed graduates in the country when incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa took over. Over the past six years, the number of unemployed graduates had since risen to 40,000.

"President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s mandate ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’ promised 10,000 jobs for graduates, but he did not honour the promise still," Munasinghe claimed.

According to him, the Rajapaksa government also promised 8,000 jobs in the 2007 budget and 15,000 jobs in the 2008 budget. But the government has broken all such promises.

By the 2009 budget, he said, the government promised 17,500 jobs for graduates and it planned to recruit 14,500 as Jana Sabha Secretaries and 3177 as aesthetic teachers.

"But the government is yet to recruit graduates as Jana Sabha Secretaries," Munasinghe said adding but those who had external degrees had not received aesthetic teacher appointments even after being interviewed.

"The government completely forgot the issue in 2010 and 2011 budgets.

Their members are seeking a solution from this budget as there are over 19,000 state sector vacancies remaining to be filled at present", he said.

 

It’s 7 billion and counting...

November 6, 2011, 8:15 pm


Dr Mathu H Liyanage

It was indeed a matter for celebration as the world’s population passed the seven billionth milestone on October 31, 2011. It was also a symbolic day across the globe.

The first child born on this day in the enchanting, now peaceful Sri Lanka was at the state-run Castle Street Maternity Home. It was not only a symbolic day for the baby and the parents but also a day to remember and cherish throughout the child’s life as, when she grows up, she could look at the picture hung on her modest home, holding her by no less a person than the First Lady of Sri Lanka, Shiranthi Rajapaksa.

It was also reported that, in the Philippines, a new-born baby was picked to symbolise the seven billionth addition to the global population. She was born at the Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, a public institution in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

The child and her parents were met by the UN officials and presented them with a cake and a certificate of appreciation, the symbolic gesture of the UN reported to have displayed when they visited the babies born on this day that were reported or made public. Gifts for the child from the local benefactors, including a scholarship grant and a livelihood package for the parents to set themselves up in business, were among the other gifts they received on this significant day.

Other countries too have celebrated the births of babies on this day in various forms: Zambia throwing a seven billion song contest; Russia showering gifts on selected newborns; and Ivory Coast putting on a comedy show.

Babies, like sweet-scented rose buds just opened up, are sure to win the heart of any human being. Their births are, indeed, an occasion to rejoice, and every corner of the globe has reportedly done it.

But, there looms a darker outlook to the unprecedented growth of the population over decades. The resultant pressures added to food production, housing, educational facilities, environment and infrastructure across the countries, especially in the developing countries, make the picture a bit gloomy.

It is projected that the world’s population would balloon to more than 10 billion by the end of the century. Three centuries back, in 1800, the population stood only at 1 billion.

The rapid but steady increase has created wide fluctuations in the demographic profile and the geographic distribution of people.

There is a widening gap between the younger and the old, the rich and the poor in almost every country, and between the countries themselves. There are more people now in developing countries than in developed, industrialised countries.

The high fertility rates in most developing countries have increased. The resultant increases in the population perpetuate poverty with high figures in unemployment as against the developed countries with low rates of fertility, brought about by improved birth control methods, and women putting off marriage for studies and employment. These countries, on the contrary, have come up with problems of shortage of skilled workers to sustain the growth of the economy and their social security schemes.

Cultural and religious attitudes can be attributed to the problems of developing countries, particularly in Africa, with no adequate birth control methods to add to their woes.

Most of these countries come closer to rich countries, crossing the geographical borders, as migrants or economic refugees. Migration has now become a vexed diplomatic problem. Refugees frequently make perilous journeys in dilapidated boats across wild seas to reach greener pastures.

The increase in life expectancy as a result of improved medical, sanitation and nutrition and health-consciousness of people have, no doubt, added a greater dimension to the population growth.

There is always a darker side to any problem the humanity faces. The current trend of population expansion may be slowed down by natural forces, as in the past, or by the amazing technology we now experience. It is also possible for technological developments even to overcome most of the problems as advocated by those against the Malthusian theory at the time.

Homo sapiens are clever creatures, and doomsayers often forget that mankind has a genius for adaptability and survival.

The larger the number of people the earth accommodates, the greater would be the people’s attempts to surmount the problems of over-population. Perhaps, the arrival of the world’s seven billionth human should be, as the birth of any child, a cause for celebration and rejoice.

The population bomb and the increasing tax on global resources

November 6, 2011, 7:41 pm


Welcome

Welcome to the sixty fourth edition of this regular column. Here, we discuss a wide range of topics around Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), many aspects of Business, SME Development, Agriculture, Education, Entrepreneurship, Creativity, Innovation and the Society at large.

Population

The world population reached the 7 billion mark last week. While it’s a milestone, it is also a thought provoking point.

The world population hit 6.5 billion in February 2006. The United Nations Population Fund designated 12 October 1999 as the approximate day on which the world population reached 6 billion. This came about 12 years after the world population reached the 5 billion point in 1987. The growth is extremely rapid.

This was not the case many thousands of years ago. Humans just like any other animal species were subject to the laws of nature. This meant that the survival of the species depended on the abundance of food and evasion of predators. It’s a cycle which regulated the population of every species. However, during the course of the history humans realised that their food can be produced; vegetables and fruits can be grown and animals can be farmed. From this point onwards the journey of the human kind took a different path from that of the other species. Abundance of food meant fewer restrictions on population growth.

Population growth increased significantly as the Industrial Revolution gathered pace from 1700 onwards. The drastic advances in medical technologies meant a significant drop in mortality and infant mortality rates. The advancement in industrial machinery resulted in substantial increases in agricultural productivity.

Let’s be happy for where we are, for all the achievements and everything else. But there are few things to be looked at to have a sustainable future.

It’s good to be able to live a secure life with the ability to produce our own food and attend to ailments with proper medical care. However in the bigger scheme of things we should not forget that there is an ever increasing tax on the scarce global resources.

Author of "The Population Bomb", Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University recently gave an interview where he emphasized that global population has more than doubled since he wrote the book in 1968. He notes that although there has been a reduction in birth rates, it is not nearly enough.

It is projected that the Earth will have to support 2 billion additional people by 2050. Regarding this he says:

"To support 2 billion more, it will be necessary to farm ever poorer lands, use more dangerous and expensive agricultural inputs, win metals from ever-poorer ores, drill wells deeper or tap increasingly remote or more contaminated sources to obtain water, and then spend more energy to transport that water ever greater distances. All this will require vastly more energy than is now used. As a result, the next 2 billion people probably will do disproportionately much more damage to our life-support systems than did the last 2 billion. Of course, if humanity got serious about protecting the environment, and now especially the atmosphere, the next 2 billion could do less damage."

In a nutshell, the increasing population need more land area for living to build houses and flats. On the other hand more land area is needed for agriculture to nurture the increasing population. And not forgetting the need to produce ever more increasing amounts of furniture and consumables among other things. All this is while sharing the limited amount of water, oil and other natural resources.

So, it’s crystal clear that we need to manage the population for our future generations to survive on mother earth. There are a few areas to that can help.

Empowering women to make their own decisions about child birth and bearing is one area. More than two in five pregnancies worldwide are unintended by the women who experience them. Women must be able to make their own decisions about childbearing free from fear of pressure from partners, family, and society.

The other main area is around consuming fewer resources and minimising waste. Humans use the finite resources of the world to unbelievable levels and they also waste large quantities of food every year. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, industrialized countries waste 222 million tons of food annually. If fewer resources and less food were wasted, the world would be able to feed more people and use fewer resources in producing them.

Not to forget, we are already talking of a potential famine where food could be in short supply. I am sure all of us have heard about the issues with drinking water.

Sustainable development and due attention to this is a need of the hour.

125th Anniversary of Ananda College

Quickly moving on to a different topic, last week saw the 125th anniversary of the Ananda College Colombo, the alma-mater to me and many others.

On 1st November, 1886, a daily English school was opened at No: 64, in Maliban Street, Pettah, pioneered by Ven. Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thero and inspired by Col. Henry Steele Olcott. Starting with a mere student population of 37, it was soon re-located to Maradana, where it blossomed into present day pristine glory, accommodating over 6000 students.

It’s a place that helped to mould our nation and many individuals. Ananda has battled all the way for the betterment of Sri Lanka throughout its history of 125 years. The latest is the contribution of Anandians during our win over terrorists in 2009. Among them are Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara, Maj General Jagath Dias, Maj General Kamal Goonarathna, Brig Prasanna Silva and Brig Chagi Gallage.

Among notable old Anandians who have excelled in various fields are Basil Rajapaksa, Thilak Karunaratne, Deva Rodrigo, Arjuna Ranatunga, Ashok Pathirage, Imthiaz Bakeer Markar, Karu Jayasuriya, Upali Dharmadasa, Dullas Alahapperuma, Prof.Tissa Vitharana, Gomin Dayasiri, Mohan Pandithage, Kinglsly Ratnayake, Nimal Lakshapathiarchchi, Kasun Kalhara, Prof. Sampath Amaratunga, Dr. Gamini Wickremasinghe, Ossie Abeygunasekara, Ranjith Pandithage, Deepal Sooriyarachchi and Titus Thotawatte.

The key thing with Ananda culture is the ultimate love for our country, people, culture and motivation to help the society while taking up challenges.

Reader Feedback Corner

Our topic last week was about the tea sector in Sri Lanka. We discussed about opportunities that exist for Sri Lanka as well as the challenges to get over. Mr Ranjith Abeygunawardane, who has over 29 years experience in the plantation sector, has written in detail to us. Below are some of his concerns about the sector.

Quality of the tea produce is deteriorating day by day because of adulterating at the producer end and there is no proper mechanism to detect it at the factory end. Adulteration is done mainly on the black colour appearance. This takes place in most of the factories that are aiming for poor green leaf standards to increase their quantity and they do not have enough machinery to remove the stalk in the made teas.

The main cause for adulteration is the substandard green leaf accepted by the factory. There seems to be no collective agreement among the stakeholders to get rid of this problem. The high cost of production for the factories is area cause that pushes them towards this unethical practice. The capital expenditure on stalk extracting machines is very high and manufactures find it difficult to bear the cost.

This will be a black mark for our black tea in the global markets unless proper measures are not taken.

On other matters raised, the agro climatic conditions and individual factory can be better utilised in branding. Brokers seem to be not promoting our branding and value adding because of hidden agendas on their own profit.

As I also pointed out, the people factor is key for this industry and that needs attention. According to Mr Abeygunawardane, human resource management is disgraceful in the industry as it still uses manufacturing processes. This also raises the point that the sociological aspect of tea is being ignored. More can be done for estate workers. Support should be given to tea small holders as well. They are the life blood of this industry.

I agree with his comment on lapses in research. This was noted in the column last week. Research and development work is not done by the manufactures but has been handed over to the tea research institute (TRI). However, it is only a research station but not in a manufacturing environment according to Mr Abeygunawardane.

I hope this feedback from a participative reader in the sector will give some things to think about for all those who are involved in the tea industry.

If you also have any feedback or things to be raised, please drop a note to yva@lankabpoacademy.lk

See you next week!



The Columnist

Yasas Vishuddhi Abeywickrama is a professional with significant experiences. In 2011 he was recognised as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) in Sri Lanka. Yasas has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from University of Colombo and a Masters degree in Entrepreneurship & Innovation from Swinburne University in Australia. He has worked in the USA, UK, Sri Lanka & Australia and being trained in the USA & Malaysia. He is currently involved in the training organisation, Lanka BPO Academy (www.lankabpoacademy.lk). Apart from this column, he is a regular resource person for ‘Ape Gama’ program of FM Derana (Sunday 3-5pm). Yasas is happy to answer your relevant questions – email him at yva@lankabpoacademy.lk .

Prof Savitri Goonesekere’s whiff of grapeshot

November 5, 2011, 6:22 pm

by Rajiva Wijesinha

I was pleasantly entertained by Prof Savitri Goonasekere’s references to myself and Dayan Jayatilleke in her long critique of recent developments with regard to Higher Education. The thrust of the article is to attack the reforms proposed by the Minister, S B Dissanayake. Apart from Minister Mervyn Silva, the only two individuals referred to disparagingly by name are Dayan and myself.

I was reminded on reading this of the attack on Minister Dissanayake in the recent US review of Human Rights in Sri Lanka. Apart from Ministers Wimal Weerawansa and Douglas Devananda, two individuals the Americans in general would love to hate, S B was the only Minister mentioned by name. As I wrote at the time, there seemed no obvious reason to hate S B, so that the reason for the attack, prepared I believe by the less civilized elements in the U S Embassy, was probably the flirtation they were carrying on with the JVP. The JVP were doubtless as cynical in their reasons for accepting the advances made, though perhaps that little side-show has been suspended by other developments in the JVP now.

Saner elements in the West, as I have had proven again and again in conversation, have a much higher opinion of S B, and believe as I do that his efforts to reform the University system must be supported. They may not of course agree with all his initiatives, but by and large they recognize that he is an effective Minister with very progressive ideas, and that unless his reforms are expedited, education and thus society in Sri Lanka will not move forward as demanded by the current world situation.

Just as those who prepared the US Report on Human Rights realized that denigration of S B was a way of attacking reform, so too it would seem that Prof Goonesekere, with some intellectual confusion regrettable in one of her renown, thinks attacking Dayan and me would be useful in pursuing her ends. The gratuitous reference to Mervyn Silva, the only member of the government mentioned by name in this article, is typical of propaganda techniques unworthy of a distinguished academic.

Whilst I am sure Dayan can look after himself, and I trust he will do so in his usual incisive prose, I must point out that Prof Goonesekere is really rather childish in suggesting that what I wrote might be ‘a subtle endorsement to (sic) the creation of a para military force within universities and among youth groups’. I hope entirely innocently, she confuses two things, with no regard for either facts or chronology. First she cites a document of the Friday Forum to criticize the recent ‘much publicized leadership programme for new students’. It is a pity she did not consult, instead of the antediluvian alliance, the students of her old school who participated in the programme, or its Principal, who have made clear how successful that programme was.

Then she claimes that there is ‘a proposal for the Ministry of Defence to integrate a "cadet programme" into English teacher training for schools that come under the Ministry of Education. Since her evidence for this, as is apparent from the rest of the article, is something I wrote, it is a pity that she has not read carefully. What I mentioned was that ‘the Education Ministry seems to have put a stop to the heartening initiative of the Secretary of Defence to commission Tamil officers into the Cadet Corps through a programme of training teachers of English’. The poor woman obviously failed to register that there had been a programme previously, that it was for commissioning Tamil officers into the Cadet Corps, and that those officers were to be deployed as English teacher. For those who are not aware of this, it relates to a scheme whereby, even at the height of the conflict, the Ministry of Defence affirmed its commitment to a multi-ethnic army by recruiting Tamils into the Cadet Officer Corps. Why Prof Goonesekere confused this with a cadet programme in English teacher training for schools is incomprehensible, unless prejudice has trumped her undoubted intelligence.

She goes further lower down in her article, in attacking as possibly subtle paramilitarization, my suggestion of catch up education arranged by the military. She claims there is no explanation ‘as to why the military should undertake this work’ but I had pointed out that the idea arose from the successful pre-university course, that combined a range of skills in addition to learning. The para is worth citing in full –

‘In a practical way, such training could offer basic qualifications involving languages plus vocational and aesthetic training, with a package that would allow those who were interested to obtain the six passes at Ordinary Level that would qualify them to join various branches of government service. A more streamlined approach to catch up education can easily be devised, which would also ensure the psycho-social attention, including through cultural activities and sports, that many in the region may require. ‘

While there are doubtless other ways in which such programmes could be offered, I don’t suppose Prof Goonesekere has thought either of the problem, or of any alternatives. This is typical of an approach that criticizes efforts at reform, having singularly failed to promote any when exercising authority herself. Instead she seems determined to denigrate those who do promote much needed reforms, which she herself used to agree were needed, even though she had neither the capacity nor the determination to promote them. Her snide comments about her successor as Vice-Chancellor in Colombo, a lady who had taken the University forward in a number of ways, are characteristic of someone whose elevation to the position of Vice-Chancellor, and her dashing of the hopes of those who saw her as a breath of fresh air, exemplified Parkinson’s Law about people rising to their level of incompetence. She was of course, I have been told, a splendid Professor of Law at the Open University.

Prof Goonesekere’s confusion is apparent in her misdating of efforts at reform, and when she talks of Dr Tara de Mel and Prof R P Jayewardene being senior bureaucrats in the Ministry of Higher Education when Richard Pathirana was Minister. Richard Pathirana ceased to be a Minister in 2000. Tara headed a task force during Minister Pathirana’s time, then became Secretary of Education in 2000, and only took on Higher Education as well when the Ministries were combined again in late 2001. Prof Jayawardene was Secretary of the joint Ministry earlier, but took on Higher Education alone when the Ministries were split in 2000. The IRQUE Project was conceived in Tara’s time, but only became operational after the UNP government took over, which led to its distortion as Prof Goonesekere’s indicates.

This may just be carelessness. More worrying is Prof Goonesekere’s lack of intellectual rigour in her critique of Dayan and me as having taught in State universities and suggesting that we have forgotten the horrors of the late eighties. We have not done so and, unlike Prof Goonesekere who continued to hold office in the university system at the time, we made our opposition clear at the time. I believe Prof Goonesekere shared my view of the enormities of what the Jayewardene government was up to, but whereas I resigned from my university position and campaigned actively against the 1983 referendum, Prof Goonesekere stuck to her exalted position within the system. I make no criticism of this, for she had a young family to look after, and I have always accepted that my own resignation was not a great sacrifice since I could survive quite happily by teaching English.

But the holier than thou attitude she now adopts, scattering her grapeshot at unnamed University officers, is really rather sad for a distinguished lady who once told me, when I asked her to take a greater interest in the Board of the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies on which she served together with Dr Jayatilleke and myself, that her grandchildren were of greater importance. She should stick to her preferred list, instead of doing down one of the most effective and imaginative Ministers we have.

CORRECTING A DISTORTION BY PROF SAVITHRI GOONASEKERE

November 5, 2011, 6:23 pm


Dr Dayan Jayatilleka

I write with extreme dismay at a reference to me in Prof Goonasekere’s article last Sunday entitled ‘Creating ‘Knowledge Hubs and Destroying University Autonomy’ (Sunday Island, October 30, 2011). She writes as follows:

"Drs. Dayan Jayatillake and Rajiva Wijesinha who were academics in the national universities have publicly supported the militarised leadership training programme. Dr. Jayatillake sees in the leadership programme an excellent model for creating what in effect will be a "para military" youth corp "trained in the use of weapons" that could "bleed to death with a thousand cuts" any outside force or puppet regime seeking to destabilise the country. [Island 31 August 2011.] Rajiva Wijesinha reinforces this view point, apparently for different reasons." (‘Creating ‘Knowledge Hubs and Destroying University Autonomy’ by Savitri Goonesekere, Sunday Island, October 30, 2011)

She should know that if one uses a phrase within inverted commas, and ends the passage with a source, i.e. citing an article, it is an indication that the phrase within inverts derives from the article. If instead, one is merely paraphrasing, one does not use inverted commas. If one uses inverts around a phrase that DOES NOT APPEAR ANYWHERE IN THE TEXT THAT IS REFERRED TO, it is, to put it mildly, misleading and is not a practice encouraged in journalism, let alone academia.

Prof Goonasekere uses within inverts, the term "para military" and says it is something that I have advocated. This is a sleight of hand. The word ‘paramilitary’ appears nowhere in my article. Furthermore, a Google search will show that I have never advocated a ‘paramilitary’ anywhere, in over three decades of published political writings.

For purposes of record, let me reproduce what I did write:

"Our deterrent capacity cannot depend upon a vastly expanded army of almost half a million, as a former commander mistakenly called for, because the economic costs would sink the country. Nor should anyone envisage compulsory national service in the form of a draft because the USA itself learnt to its bitter social cost that the best army is an all-volunteer army. However, a recent successful experiment has been conducted in Sri Lanka with the armed forces’ support, for an orientation course of university entrants. In preparation for a worst case scenario, that model could be expanded to provide a huge youth/student populace, including women, trained in the use of weapons, and which could make any invader, secessionist or irredentist puppet regime (and its army’) bleed from death by a thousand cuts. As Fidel Castro once said when Cuba was under threat of intervention, "we shall arm even the cats!"

Sri Lanka must protect itself against two erroneous schools of thought, both of which sin against Realism. One fails to comprehend the basic conflict of interest between Sri Lanka’s national interests and those states that call for so-called accountability hearings. These states are driven by Tamil Diaspora lobbies, contempt for national sovereignty (except for their own) and an emerging Cold War competition with China. The pseudo-pragmatic school of ‘professional’ capitulationists and appeasers fails to perceive the threat from this quarter and the requirement of global resistance. The other school of thought is that of those who fail to understand the imperative need for compromises and concessions on the secondary and the tactical, so that a strong protective ring can be reconstructed on our perimeter, i.e., our neighborhood, thereby protecting that which is essential: Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity and the gains of the historic military victory.

The most durable defense against interventionism is by simultaneously changing our ‘target profile’ and ‘target hardening’. This can be done only by repairing our internal fragility; removing the discontent and disaffection of the minority at our strategically sensitive Northern periphery. But can that be done and how can it be done? The best answer is in The Fear of Barbarians by Tzventan Todorov, Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherché Scientifique (CNRS), Paris. In this book, described by the great scholar of international relations, Prof Stanley Hoffman of Harvard and Science Po, as "more than a masterpiece, [it is] a treasure", Prof Todorov speaks of the need to replace or transform an ethnocracy into a modern democracy: "a modern democracy is to be distinguished from an ethnocracy, i.e., a state in which belonging to a particular ethnic group ensures you of privileges over the other inhabitants of a country; in a democracy, all citizens, whatever their origin, language, religion or customs enjoy the same rights." (p 67)

(‘Libyan Lessons for Lanka’, Dayan Jayatilleka, The Island, Aug 31st, 2011)

Intellectual and scholarly standards require that both ‘text’ and ‘context’ be carefully taken into account in the practice of critique. In distorting what I had written Prof Goonesekere has been unfair, lapsing on both counts.

CLINICAL TRAINING

The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) said that the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) has advised Nawaloka private hospital not to permit SAITM medical students to attend clinical classes in the hospital as the private institution was not in the legal capacity to do so.
GMOA Assistant Secretary Dr. Sankalpa Marasinghe said this advice was given at a recent discussion among private hospital owners and directors, the SLMC Chairperson, Health Ministry Director General, the Health Minister, GMOA committee members and other stakeholders of the medical sector.

“The SLMC stated that SAITM students cannot be allowed to do clinical training in private hospitals as the institution received legal recognition only after the issuing of a gazette notification on August 30. Therefore students that were enrolled to SAITM before this date cannot be allowed to work in private hospitals as they do not comply with the conditions in the gazette notice. As all SAITM students were enrolled before this date, none of the students are eligible to work in hospitals,” GMOA Assistant Secretary Dr. Sankalpa Marasinghe said.
He said that earlier this week Nawaloka hospital had agreed to give four rooms in the hospital free of charge for clinical training of SAITM medical students but Dr. Marasinghe said this would be inadequate. “It is absurd. In government hospitals students take on clinical training from 6am till 10pm in the night. We do not understand the ad hoc manner in which they are trying to conduct clinical training for the SAITM students,” he said.

PRIVATE MEDICAL COLLEGE REPORT OUT SOON: MINISTRY

The Health Ministry said yesterday that the five-member committee appointed to investigate the private medical college in Malabe which has come under strong criticism in recent times by government doctors and local medical faculty students was still in the deliberation process and the committee would release its report in the coming weeks.
Health Ministry Secretary Dr. Ravindra Ruberu said once the report was completed the committee recommendations would be implemented and that existing issues pertaining to the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) would be resolved.

Although SAITM recently announced that Dr. Ruberu had agreed to provide government hospitals for clinical training, he said he had not given such assurances to the institution.
“The statements made by them gave the impression that I had discussed the matter with them but there were no discussions on the matter. The ministry had not given approval to the institution to carry out clinical classes in government hospitals,” Dr. Ruberu said.

MAJOR CHANGES TO O/L EXAMSFROM 2013

Students to select A/L subjects in grade-9

New policy will be introduced next year along with major changes to the entire school education system
BANDULA GUNAWARDANE

The Education Ministry will introduce overall changes to the national examinations next year making it compulsory for students to choose their GCE A/L study stream at Grade nine, instead of waiting till they complete their GCE O/L examination, Minister Bandula Gunawardane said yesterday. He said the new policy would be introduced next year along with major changes to the entire school education system to be implemented from 2013 onwards.
The parliamentary consultative committee which was set up to work out this policy has wrapped up its proceedings and is preparing its final report to be tabled in parliament. Minister Gunwardane said it would be mandatory for the students to complete six core subjects for the O/L examination from 2013 and three optional subjects in relation to their chosen stream of study for the A/L examination.
The core subjects are the Mother Tongue (either Sinhala or Tamil), the Second Language (English), Mathematics, Social Study, Religion and Science.
“In addition to these subjects, Grade-nine students will have to choose three other subjects related to their A/L studies. If a student intends to take up Commerce Subjects for the A/L exam, he or she should select accounting, economics and business studies. In such a context, they can enter the A/L classes with a basic understanding of these subjects. Today, students do the O/L exam and start A/L studies without any knowledge of the subjects involved. It is burdensome for students,” the minister

said.
Similarly students who intend to do their A/L studies in the science stream will be given a basic understanding of Chemistry, Biology and Physics from Grade-9 to 11.
At present it is mandatory for students to study six core subjects along with three other subjects selected from three different subject baskets. The Minister said this system of selecting subjects from baskets would be abolished with the introduction of the new policy next year to be implemented the following year.
“When students select subjects from these baskets, they choose subjects which have no relevance to their advanced level studies,” he said.
The minister said a similar system for A/L studies was adopted during the time of the late C.W.W. Kannangara who was a former minister of education.
“Today, the A/L exam is too advanced for students. What is meant for university students is sometimes taught to A/L students,” he said.