Private universities, student protests & future of higher education

December 25, 2011, 4:39 pm , The Island.


Last Wednesday, I was prevented by the police from entering my work place, the University of Peradeniya. Police had closed the Galaha Road and the old Galaha Road with barbed wire. The university that is supposed to be ‘more open than usual’ was virtually closed. Police and army with all kinds of anti-riot gear and guns had been present in the vicinity of the Peradeniya Junction since morning. It was said that the intention of that mobilisation was to execute a court order barring a protest march by students from the Peradeniya University to Colombo against the forthcoming Bill to set up non-state universities—a euphemism for private universities. The authorities wanted to stop the procession and violate the democratic right of the students to engage in a peaceful march seemingly legal and the OIC of the Peradeniya Police asked for a court order. As Costas Douzinas informed us, the guiding principle in a decision should be that "a law without justice is a body without soul and a legal education that teaches rules without spirit is intellectually barren and morally bankrupt."

However, the court order allowed students to march up to the Galaha Junction. We were told that the legal action had been taken in order to prevent law and order problem including student security that would have happened had the procession been allowed. In my opinion, that assessment was exaggerated. Subsequently, the authorities of the University of Peradeniya decided to suspend all student unions. Once again, I believe that decision was also based on incorrect reading of the situation and tantamount to inviting trouble because legal bodies are always less damaging than the illegal outfits and subterranean mechanisms that would emerge in order to fill the vacuum in the absence of legal and formal student bodies. The UNP government after coming to power in 1977 made the same mistake by making students unions in the university system illegal. And the government-backed Vice Chancellors, in some places, like the University of Jayawardenepura, used the UNP goons to attack students. We have witnessed the sad results of this kind of politics on the part of the authorities.

Why do I say that the authorities have misread the situation? Here, we have to develop an argument based on the events in the recent past. A couple of months ago there was a student procession of Peradeniya University students to the Kandy City. It was peaceful. Police also behaved prudently and no party tried to provoke the other. Of course, there was a minor congestion for nearly two hours when the students expressed their protest. The students of J’pura University also organised a protest march to the UGC premises and it was also incident free. Hence, on the basis of events in the recent past, there was no reason for the university authorities and the police to be over cautious as regards the planned students’ procession to Colombo. Secondly, the procession was planned for four days. People who have participated in long resistance campaigns know very well that such protests cannot afford to be violent. Long marches are invariably less eventful than the short-term protests. Thirdly, students did not try to confront police at the Galaha Junction on Wednesday even after they were stopped there by the police and security forces.

The setting-up of private universities would be definitely a new addition to the Sri Lankan higher education architecture. Personally, I have no strong objections to private higher education institutions if certain conditionalties are introduced. However, as it is something new, some space and time should be given to the people to discuss its possible impact on the education system that exists today. How would it affect the state university system? How would the private universities influence the system of free education, especially of the middle and lower classes? These and associated questions are of great importance as the education system all over the world is now undergoing many reforms and serious educationists have already questioned the rationale behind them. Hence, a wider debate on the subject is imperative as we are dealing with a subject that would have repercussions for generations. In that sense, I propose that academics, students, and the general public be invited to express their view on the proposed bill. In that sense, the planned long march by the students should not have been viewed as a disruptive exercise just because it was organised by student unions.

My association with the University of Peradeniya for more than forty five years as a student and a teacher has convinced me of three important things about student politics. First, the student protests and resistance sometimes go beyond legal limits and invariably result in excesses. Secondly, whenever the governments and the university authorities deal with those issues within the democratic framework, the situation returns to normal with only minor irritants. Thirdly, the student protests and resistance have oftentimes been directed against incorrect policies and actions so that they may help policy makers review their policies and actions. I would be pleased to be wrong, but It seems that the government is repeating once again the tactics adopted by the UNP government in the late 1970s and the early 1980s. Especially in the post-war situation, the deliberative democratic mechanisms should be strengthened; time and space should be given to students and teachers to participate in the discourse on higher education reforms.

Let me make a suggestion. The setting up of private universities has pros and cons and its fallout may go beyond the field of higher education. For example, the political economist inside me argues that allowing private capital to enter into the sphere of higher education may be damaging to future economic development as it would contribute capital to move from ‘deep growth’ areas to ‘shallow growth areas’. In Sri Lanka, private sector prefers to invest in health, education and service sectors rather than in productive sectors. The government that aims at making Sri Lanka a miracle in Asia should go for a focused development. Hence, capital should be encouraged giving incentives and assurances to the private sector to go into not shallow growth areas but deep growth areas. I cite this just an example to show how complex the issue of setting up private universities is. Hence, the best thing the Minister of Higher Education should do is to prepare a WHITE PAPER allowing all concerned people to engage in three to four months deliberations on the subject. Such an open and democratic discussion would immensely help with the higher education reforms in Sri Lanka.

The writer teaches political economy at the University of Peradeniya.