Admin and financial irregularities hamper Eastern Uni activities

Monday, 30 January 2012 18:15, Dailymirror

Administrative irregularities and financial misappropriations have hampered the activities of the Eastern University for years, officials said today.

Prof. Ranjith Arthanayake, who acted as the Competent Authority of the University for 11 months, told the Daily Mirror today that he was able to identify a number of cases. However, he declined to give specific details about them to the media at this hour.

“I was appointed by the Minister. It is unethical for me to give specific details about it,” he said.

He said that there were irregularities in administration, financial management and academic activities at the university located in Vantharamulai, Batticaloa.

Asked how long the situation had prevailed, he said that it had been around for the past 30 years.

Meanwhile, Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne said that measures had been taken to correct the situation at the university. He said that a new vice chancellor would be appointed to the university very soon.

“Three names have  been sent to the President. Only the President has the authority to pick one of them as the vice chancellor,” he said.

The university was affected by the war. In 2004, one lecturer of the university was gunned down by an identified gang. The then Vice Chancellor Prof. S. Ravindranath was abducted in 2006 and so far what happened to him remains a mystery. Subsequently, a large number of lecturers of the university left the country as their lives were at risk. (Kelum Bandara)

A/L crisis goes to Supreme Court

Tuesday, 31 January 2012 02:22, Dailymirror

Sixteen GCE Advanced Level Students and the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) yesterday filed fundamental rights violation petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the formula applied on the 2011 GCE Advanced Level Examination to calculate the Z-score.

The petitioners said the erroneous and unjustifiable application of the formula had caused a gross distortion of the examination results.
Examinations Commissioner General W.M.N.J. Pushpakumara, Education Minister Bandula Gunawardene, Peradeniya University R.O. Thattiland and the Attorney General were cited as respondents.

The petitioners alleged that their fundamental rights to equality and equal protection of the law had been violated and sought court to declare null and void the August 2011 GCE Advanced Level results and the Z-scores.

They are asking the court to direct that the Z-Scores of the candidates be calculated according to the accepted statistical norms and principles, and to calculate the Z-score of a subject on the premise that the new syllabus and the old syllabus are separate from each other.

They are also asking the court to direct the respondents to reissue the results to all the candidates after correcting the errors as regards the Z-Score and other shortcomings.

The petitioners are seeking the court to make an appropriate interim order suspending any further step with regard to university admission, until the final determination of this application.

They are asking court to make an order calling for all the documentation, records and reports pertaining to the calculation of the Z-score contained in the official results of the GCE Advanced Level Examination released on December 30 and to award compensation to the petitioners as determined by the court.

They said until 1999, the selection of students for admission to universities and other higher educational institutions were based on the aggregate marks obtained by the candidates at the GCE Advanced Level Examination.

During this period, every subject stream, namely Biological Science, Mathematics, Commerce and Arts contained four (4) subjects and therefore, a candidate had to sit for four (4) separate question papers.

However, with the introduction of new educational reforms, the number of subjects relevant to a subject stream of the GCE Advanced Level Examination was reduced to three (3) from year 2000. Accordingly, a candidate was required to sit for three (3) question papers thenceforth, in addition to a Common General Test which all the candidates were expected to get through. (S.S. Selvanayagam)

FUTA vows to take action

Monday, 30 January 2012 21:26, Dailymirror

The Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) today vowed to do everything possible to prevent the private universities bill from proceeding if it is presented to Parliament without consulting all stakeholders in the higher education sector.

Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake and other government officials had discussions with FUTA recently where it was unanimously decided that the Ministry, University Grants Commission, university teachers, students and other relevant parties would hold discussions on the matter before the matter before the Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Qualification Frame Bill was brought to parliament.

FUTA President Nirmal Dewasiri said during the union’s Annual General Meeting last week it was found that there was a possibility that the bill would be introduced to parliament shortly. “We asked for constitutional amendments to be made and they agreed to it. We see this as a violation of the agreement that was reached last week,” Dewasiri said.

“If the reports are true then we will do our best to stop it. We will take maximum action,” he said. Discussions are currently underway between FUTA and Ministry officials on the when the discussions should begin. (Olindhi Jayasundere)

UK Government set to drop private universities plan

UK Government set to drop private universities plan

The Guardian, 24/01/2012

Higher education bill due to be introduced in Queen's speech reported to have been delayed indefinitely

• Jeevan Vasagar, education editor
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 January 2012 10.43 GMT
• Article history

David Willetts said there would be further discussion of the private universities plan. Photograph: Geraint Lewis/Alamy
The government has abandoned plans to reform the university system that would have made it easier for private colleges to set up new universities. A higher education bill due to be introduced in the Queen's speech has been delayed indefinitely, according to the Daily Telegraph. The Liberal Democrats were opposed to further reforms to higher education after the controversial decision to raise tuition fees, the paper reported. The universities minister, David Willetts, said: "There's going to be a further discussion in cabinet in the next couple of weeks. There's no final decision either way yet." Two private universities in England – Buckingham and BPP – have degree-awarding powers, and several other private providers focus on professional courses such as business studies, management and law. They are not subject to the same government requirements on widening access to students from poorer backgrounds, or the cap on student numbers. The maximum state-backed loan available for students at private universities has risen from just over £3,000 to £6,000 for students starting this autumn in a move Willetts described as a first step towards bringing in private providers of higher education. Sally Hunt, the general secretary of the UCU, the college lecturers' union, said: "Plans to allow private companies greater access to taxpayers' money would have seen them getting rich at the expense of the UK taxpayer. "In the US, for-profit universities and colleges have been investigated for the mis-selling of qualifications to vulnerable students and their families. That is the last thing we needed here as students struggle to adapt to the new fees regime. "The government should be applauded for appearing to listen to the experts in the case. We will continue to expose the dangers of allowing those whose first priority is to their shareholders a greater hold on our higher education system." The coalition has already introduced sweeping change to the university system without the need for primary legislation, including increasing the cap on tuition fees and giving universities the power to recruit unlimited numbers of the best performing students.

Email Etiquette

January 29, 2012, 7:39 pm , The Island.


Welcome

Welcome to the seventy fifth (75th) edition of the regular column "The Catalyst". Seventy Five consecutive columns I guess is a milestone. It hasn’t been easy to write something useful every week, but I think we have prevailed. I thank The Island team for their support and also our readers. If not for reader feedback and comments, it wouldn’t have gone from strength to strength. I feel it’s serving its purpose and there is an impact, so it has to continue and it will!

Personal Development Skills

Last week we discussed about time management skills. We have also discussed things like presentation skills in the past. Today I thought of picking up another personal development area. This is more relevant to individuals who use emails in their professional work as well as in personal matters.

Email Etiquettes

Etiquette is usually defined as "the conduct or procedure required by good breeding or prescribed by authority to be observed in social or official life".

Communication is a vital part of leadership. Showing strong leadership skills stems from strong communications skills. In today’s world, emails represent a significant part of communications, therefore being good at it is important from a leadership perspective as well.

‘Leadership and communication are inseparable. You can’t have one without the other.’ —-Claude I. Taylor

General Rules

Emails or parts of emails written with capital letters look rude. ALL CAPS IS CONSIDERED SHOUTING.

Over punctuating also makes it difficult to read. Some level of punctuation is important but too much of it is not that good. Also not using proper capitalization or punctuation at all makes it hard to read the e-mail as well.

Lately we have been seeing text messaging abbreviations (such as ur instead of your, 4 instead of for, u instead of you) being used in emails. This is mainly due to the fact that the new generation has come through using mobile phones from very young ages. This has to be avoided at all times in professional emails. So are emoticons. Of course in text messages and chatting they may be used, but in professional emails they are not recommended.

Just like in any formal document, if a certain acronym is used, it has to be first introduced in its detailed form and then only the acronym should be used thereafter.

Although pretty basic, it’s not that uncommon to see emails with spelling and grammar mistakes. They create a bad impression about the sender in the readers’ mind. Especially spelling mistakes are fairly intolerable in today’s context as spell checkers are widely available, and in most applications they are automatic.

In certain working environments, slang words may be used in emails as well, however as these written records can be forwarded/sent anywhere, usually it’s better to keep the use of slang to a minimum.

Needed?

In today’s working environment e-mails are widely used. Some job roles require individuals to deal with about hundred emails a day at their work. So, before you send an email, think whether the recipient actually needs this to do their job. Otherwise, you could be just wasting the other person’s time.

On the other hand, just like with any other form of communication this mode of communication also has to be Timely, Relevant, Complete and Appropriate.

Professional

Some of the tips we are discussing here can be used in both personal and professional contexts. However, in working environments, emails have to be very professional. Usual working ethics have to be adhered to at all times. They should be inoffensive.

There are instances where people need to send emails to multiple recipients. Then you the recipient, may have to reply to that email. Before hitting that ‘send’ button give some consideration to the questions whether you should send it to the original sender only, a few selected people or to all the people involved in the original email. The latter is when we use ‘Reply to all’. It is advisable to limit the use of ‘Reply to all’ as it may only be wasting the time of people unnecessarily. Additionally it should be kept in mind that if you are addressing the email to specifically a single person, but copying it to a few others as they need to be in on the conversation; be polite! Do not condemn or point out any adverse matters directly related to one of the people in the list. This will be equivalent to humiliating a person in front of an audience.

Most email applications have BCC – Blind Carbon Copy function. That’s where you can have someone’s email address in the BCC list, but others in the email wouldn’t know that that person is reading the email. In a professional context, BCC is considered very unprofessional. It can be considered a cowardly act.

Sometimes there are Distribution Lists created with multiple email addresses. This makes it easy to send emails to groups of people. For example, there can be an email group for all managers of an organisation. While it is efficient, use them carefully. Sometimes, unnecessary or confidential information is provided to too many people. Remember the information has to be relevant to the recipient.

Format of e-mails

Rather than writing long one-paragraph emails, it’s better to use multiple paragraphs in the body. Also by using bullets and numbers, the structure can be cleared.

There should be a brief introduction of what the email is about at the beginning, then the body with paragraphs and bullets/numbers. And finally it can be ended up with the expected actions from the recipient/s. This part has to be very clear and action items for each person should be clearly explained succinctly. At the end of the day, especially working emails are sent to achieve certain objectives, and those objectives have to be met. Therefore, it’s important to make sure action items are clearly stated.

The subject line of emails has to be clearly stated as well. Especially in busy times, it could be the subject that gets the attention of the recipient and makes it meaningful. This also helps in finding old emails efficiently. Not having a subject line is very improper as well. Using keywords such as ‘Action’, ‘Info’ or ‘Urgent’ in subject line can strengthen it. In professional emails, subject lines such as ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’ are inappropriate.

If you include attachments give brief explanations of what they are.

Just in passing, it is acceptable to write a heated e-mail, just wait 24 hours before you send it!

Events

Changing topics, I was a participant at the National Conference on the Role of the Business Community in Reconciliation held last week at the Kadirgamar institute.

Asanga Abeyagoonasekera, Executive Director of the Kadirgamar Institute who delivered the Welcome Address, said that he believed that "the private sector’s involvement in the reconciliation process had the power to transform the devastating effects of a three-decade long war, and that this can be achieved if every organization formulated a ‘Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP)’, so that each organization is part of the national reconciliation process".

In the Keynote Address, Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Governor of the Central Bank, spoke of the many formidable challenges that were faced by the Sri Lankan economy in the past recent years. This was not only due to terrorist attacks and an atmosphere dominated by fear and uncertainty, but also because of the ailing economy due to the LTTE’s strategic objective of crippling the Sri Lankan economy, effects of which were felt by all Sri Lankans, and acutely by the business community.

"Now we have a country that is growing at more than 8%, two years running - first time in our entire history after independence" said Mr. Cabraal. He spoke of the current development programs taking place in the north and the east. Mr. Cabraal stated that 44 different banks have now opened up in the north and the east, along with finance companies. In the eastern province, 46,000 new loans were granted up to last year, a total of Rs. 2.9 billion, and in the north 56,000 new loans were granted, totaling up to Rs. 6 billion. A loan represents a person willing to undertake a livelihood and that one or two more people will have an income stream, said Mr. Cabraal. "Financial inclusiveness from our point of view was ensuring that people had loans and that people had other facilities to receive loans."

He spoke of the Eastern Province which offers the Trincomalee port which has the potential to become a major commercial and industrial hub, large stretches of beautiful beaches and ecological conservation areas for tourism, untapped productive agricultural land, value addition of seafood, and livestock and fisheries development, and of the Northern Province which offers fertile agricultural lands, mineral ores, forests, palmyra based industries, wet lands, beautiful beaches and coral deposits, value addition for fruit, vegetables and seafood, and livestock and fishery resources.

Mr. Cabraal also gave examples of those who had investments already in place in the north and the east such as Yaal Hotel by Jetwing in Jaffna, Fortune Premier in Pasikudah, Anilana Properties in Trincomalee, ICC Hotel in Trincomalee, and the Cargills-BOC Dairy Project. "I want to say to the business sector, that the overall infrastructure has been put in place for you to go and do business. Two years ago I would not have been able to tell you this, but today I can confidently say, go and do business in the north and the east, " said Mr. Cabraal.

There were presentations by ten other eminent persons from the business community and experts in reconciliation but unfortunately I don’t have enough space today for those. I hope to discuss some of it in the future editions.

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). Yasas is also an Executive Council Member of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL – www.cssl.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 .

University dons threaten indefinite strike

January 29, 2012, 10:17 pm , The Island.

by Dasun Edirisinghe

University teachers last night announced an indefinite strike if the government presented the ‘private university bill’ to Parliament without consulting them.

The Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) had taken this decision at its Annual General Meeting held at the Nawala Open University on Friday, FUTA President Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri said.

He said that through their sources they had learnt that Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake would present the new bill in the house shortly.

"We had two rounds of discussion within this month with ministry officials, including Minister Dissanayake," Dr Devasiri said adding that in every discussion they promised to have a wide discussion on the new bill.

The FUTA President, however said that the Ministry had yet to show them the draft bill.

The FUTA temporarily suspended its trade union action in July 2011 on the undertaking given by the government to grant their demands through the budget but President Mahinda Rajapaksa broken his promise himself, he said.

The senior academic said that they launched their agitation this time with the major demand being the abolishing of the private university bill and they could resume their suspended trade union action anytime.

He said that they had informed their branches countrywide universities to be prepare the membership for a continuous strike.

"Nearly 80% of university teachers are our members," Dr. Devasiri said adding there were around 5000 university teachers in the country.

Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake said in a media briefing last week they were consulting all the stakeholders before taking the new bill to parliament.

"We already discussed it with Minister Wimal Weerawansa and the National Freedom Front and Minister Champika Ranawaka and the Jathika Hela Urumaya," he said.

Dissanayake said that they had discussion with university teachers and would collect their opinion before presenting it to parliament.

The University System: Politics and Audit Queries - The Island

The University System: Politics and Audit Queries

January 27, 2012, 8:05 pm 

I was a little surprised to read in today’s Island (26th January) that the UGC opposed Prof. R.O. Thattil’s appointment to the z-score inquiry committee on the grounds there were several audit queries when he was working as the Director of Peradeniya’s Post-Graduate Institute of Agriculture. To me the only news in this is that the Auditor General’s concerns are suddenly for the first time important to those in charge of our universities.

Thattil was Director and came up for renewal when I served on the UGC. At the time a brave administrator under him brought documentary evidence to the UGC showing several financial irregularities.There were also serious issues over a new building at the PGIA and tender procedures relating to it. Further, Peradeniya’s engineering academics had formed a design centre and got a contract for that building without open tendering, arguing that the centre was a government entity which did not require tendering and then huge sums were paid to lecturers as consultants. The Citizens’ Movement for Good Governance filed action. On my insistence, the UGC sent its Internal Auditor to PGIA and he issued a stinging report. I strongly argued that a renewal for Thattil was inappropriate but the PGIA Board "of eminent men and women" pressured the UGC. The renewal was delayed but finally given ignoring all the evidence.

How is it that those administering our universities suddenly take the Auditor General’s reports seriously? I put it to you that in Sri Lanka corrupt people are useful in high office because they will be obedient and advance the interests of their masters rather than their institutions to which they give token service. The only usefulness of the Auditor General’s reports seems to be in giving excuses for leaving people out when they are inconvenient, as for example in not consulting Prof. Thattil in the z-score debacle which he probably understands better than anyone else in Sri Lanka.

Too many crooked people are at the helms of our educational institutions. At a time when our university students are agitated, it is time we really had honest people in charge if our students are to take us seriously. To start, we need our government to always take the AG seriously. And indeed, I am really happy to see some progress in this important area in the way COPE’s DEW Gunasekara is giving ear to the AG’s concerns. Is it because he is from the old left?

Prof. S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole

UGC calls for University applications

Sunday, 29 January 2012 08:56

The University Grants Commission called for applications today for the 2012 academic year from eligible students who passed the 2011 Advanced Level examination.

Lecturer arrested for assault on doctor

• Written by  The Nation
• Saturday, 28 January 2012 19:27

A Colombo University Lecturer has been arrested by a Colombo Police for reportedly assaulting a woman doctor at the Piliyandala Base Hospital,Police said. Following this reported assault on the doctor, all medical and other staff withdrew from duties today. Police are conducting further investigations.

Facilitating tech-know…

• Written by  The Nation
• Saturday, 28 January 2012 12:40

Minister of Higher Education, S B Dissanayake seems to be explaining something to Dialog Axiata Plc, Group Chief Corporate Officer, Kavan Ratnayake whilst Dialog’s Group Chief Executive, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya sees the lighter side of the conversation.  The minister was present on the occasion of Dialog last week awarding technology scholarships to 54 students, who scored top marks in the field of mathematics at the GCE A/L examinations held in 2009 and 2010. Under the scheme each scholarship recipient would be awarded a monthly stipend of Rs. 4,000 during their university undergraduate years                 (Pic by Ravindra Dharmathilake)

Pera back to normal

January 27, 2012, 9:38 pm , The Island.

The University of Peradeniya returned to normal yesterday (27) after weeks of unrest.  Students attended lectures.

1,500 schools on verge of closing due to lack of funds

Friday, 27 January 2012 20:16

While the authorities had taken steps to set up private educational institutions some 1,500 schools in the country on the verge of shutting down as they did not have the money for maintenance, the Maoist Ceylon Communist Party said.

Addressing a public lecture organised by the Inter-University Student Federation (IUSF) the party’s Secretary Surendra Rupasinghe said a large number of schools did not have basic facilities such as buildings, classroom furniture, computer laboratories, libraries and other resources necessary for education development.

He said the vast majority in the country would not be able to afford the expensive education services promoted by the authorities. “They are trying to politicise the education sector in the country. A transformation of the social order is needed to change the education structure,” he said.

Inter-Medical Faculty Students' Action Committee President Nilan Fernando alleged that the government attempted to create division among student communities to fulfil their own agendas. “We urge the authorities to protect the education system in the country and to refrain from setting up institutions that have no legitimacy. They have no legal right do it,” Fernando said.

Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) President Nirmal Devasiri said the education system faced major challenges which was visible by the vast protests by student and academic communities and said that a change in policies was required to sustain the education in the country.

The public lecture was attended by a number of students, academics and individual from political groups. (Olindhi Jayasundere)

Carlo dares GMOA prove any wrongdoing on his part

January 27, 2012, 9:42 pm , The Island.


By Don Asoka Wijewardena

Prof. Carlo Fonseka yesterday challenged those who opposed his appointment as President of the Sri Lanka Medical Council to substantiate the allegations they were liberally levelling against him.

Prof. Fonseka in a brief interview with The Island said various government professional bodies such as the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA), the Sri Lanka Dental Surgeons’ Association, the Sri Lanka Paediatric Association, the Sri Lanka Dental Association and the Sri Lanka Medical Association were unhappy with his appointment.

He said those associations seemed to harbour an unfounded fear that he would politicise the decision-making processes of the SLMC. "They are also of the view that my decisions in the affairs of the SLMC would be political and not independent. I challenge them to produce evidence that my politics or decisions have affected any individual."

"This is a democratic country and people are entitled to their views political or otherwise," Prof. Fonseka said, adding that he had been branded as a politically biased controversial character by the GMOA. In a democratic country like Sri Lanka the GMOA had every right to criticize anyone, he said. "Have I taken political decisions in the affairs of the SLMC? I challenge them to produce evidence that my political affiliations have influenced SLMC administrative affairs," Prof. Fonseka said.

Teacher personality: How it affects Learning

January 27, 2012, 7:43 pm , The Island.


By Vijaya Jayasuriya

Rohana R. Wasala’s (RW) learned discussion (The Island 20.01.12) of how teacher’s pedagogic qualities determine the academic attainment of students indeed merits a dialogue among educationists at a time like this when every imaginable aspect of our life is adversely affected by those who fail to make a mark on schooling. While Mr. Wasala mainly concentrates on the positive aspect of learning I wish to focus my attention on the negative side of it – how bad qualities of teachers directly affect the post-scholastic lives of learners.

The dictionary explanation of ‘disposition’, the basis of RW’s theorization being "the natural qualities of person’s character", this particular human tendency is most probably part and parcel of the umbrella – term ‘personality’ which encompasses a wide range of other aspects of human behaviour as well – their physical appearance and other idiosyncrasies like the multiple ranges of reaction to crises etc which make a great deal of impact on anyone or anything they are dealing with. This is of particular interest in regard to education of children as childhood or even adolescence happen to be a period of any individual which is heavily marked by extreme tenderness and formative nature so that even the slightest variations in the behaviour of their teachers tend to ‘make a dent’ in their personality.

It is this very volatile nature of students that makes it imperative for teachers to be cautious in their dealings with their charges, and for the authorities and the trainers to mould the character of trainee teachers in such a way that they will develop fully-fledged personalities so that their students in turn are not misled in the process of classroom teaching as well as outside of it. Out of the three domains in the sphere of child development cognitive (mental or intellectual) psycho-motor (physical) and affective (to do with values), the first two areas appear to be receiving a lot of weightage in the present system of education, sadly to the detriment of the last, the character development of the student. The outcome is a society full of corruption what with bogus politicians, corrupt bureaucrats, mercenary doctors, masquerading social workers and even lethargic and bluffing teachers.

On a certain TV quiz programme the other day a student delivered a speech charged with unnecessary emotion and even went on to thump the table before him with his clenched fist as if he were speaking in a political meeting. It was an extremely unpleasant sight unbecoming of a student speaking before an audience of teachers and even high-ups in educational administration. It was, of course, not the fault of the student himself but that of an ignorant teacher who trained him. (Even the texts of the speeches in this programme are written by teachers and delivered sometimes casting glances at the text though they are ultimately tagged by the quiz-master as "students’ own ideas"!

It behoves the admin authorities to take such teacher(s) concerned to task substantially. But far from such punitive/reformatory action the director in charge of the region was seen greatly amused by the student’s behaviour. The saddest part of this episode was that this speaker was adjudged the winner of the competition!

Ethics and social values should be inculcated in students from their very formative years through the behaviour and example by teachers. As RW has mentioned, most of our own teachers who taught us more than a half century ago were real paragons of virtue worthy of emulation and thus they made us follow the footsteps.

As I have referred to in these columns sometime back , we had a fine model of a master named ‘Marshal Mahaththaya,’ who came to school clad in white coat and cloth.

He taught us Sinhala. His main activity was reading out to us books by the doyen of Sinhala literature Martin Wickramasinha. While holding the novel Rohini in his left hand he used to act out all the incidents appearing in the book which we enjoyed immensely and made us subsequently great lovers of literature almost devouring books in the little library at our temple from a very early age.

The remarkable characteristic of our master that made an indelible mark on was his extreme integrity and generosity. When he noticed anyone of us being unable to write (on slates) owing to the wasted writing stick (gal kuura) he promptly got a replacement sending an older boy to the nearby boutique with his own money.

He often used to advise us on humanitarian qualities and even went on to relate little episodes from his own life illustrating them. In one such story he was a teenager taking the lunch for two men working in his father’s worksite. While crossing a river on a bridge he fell off the bike in to the river with the meal basket still held fight in his hand. He was struggling to get off water while his clothes were all soaked in it, but he never wanted to let go of the basket and held it high with difficulty, ‘I took the meals to the site with my clothes still wet’ he concluded and advised us that we should never let down those depend on us in any situation.

Mr. Batapolahewa was our class master and the wood-work teacher at Karandeniya Central School. He was working hard like a real carpenter in his spacious workshop clad in a special kit except when he taught us in the class. One day when we had to stay over for an afternoon class, one of our mates had not brought his lunch and noticing his languishing mood our teacher asked him the reason for it. When we said he had not brought his lunch our master took out his own lunch pack and gave our friend half of the string-hoppers in it saying jokingly. "Don’t come without lunch again to attack my lunch pack!"

When our school bus did not arrive one day and the passenger buses on the route were packed to capacity, we nearly two hundred students walked back home trudging three to five miles. Our teachers who could have travelled by bus accompanied us in the walk singing with us all the way!

While we imbibed all these humanitarian values from our masters in the good old days, unfortunately the present day students rarely get such opportunity to emulate their teachers. I recently happened to come across a leading Ayurvedic physician who had retired as the Vice Principal of the very institution where he had learnt the profession and is currently running his own factory producing ayurvedic medicaments. He proudly claimed that he had a large number of students serving people all over the country. This is quite possible in medical profession as doctors’ practices only involve treating patients and not moulding characters. In teacher, however, this is indeed the other way round according to my own experience as most of my students who learnt the craft from me, running into thousands in number, have today proved to be frauds! Those who wrote to me after taking up their first appointment saying "Sir, you taught us not only teaching but how to lead a humanitarian life" have become shysters who do not want even to face me.

This is the outcome of the forces within the profession itself that exert a strong negative influence on novice teachers. This tendency exists not only at school level but in the Colleges of Education themselves where those who claim to be top professionals with high academic achievements are without principles.

When a lecturer arrives at a class ten minutes late and sometimes makes excuses to students to get ‘forty winks’ keeping her head on the table, that single ugly action represents a type of role that misuses its elevated position as a privilege to engage in other types of misbehaviour as well. When authorities give priority to least qualified individuals ignoring professionals in making appointments to top posts in such institutions, the trainees, too, take the cue from such scams and tend to follow suit anticipating a leisurely and yuppified life rather than becoming real professionals with little glitter in their private life.

Dr. Alice Roberts of Birmingham University has made an epoch-making declaration (The Island: World View: 23.01.12) that students taking science subjects, too, should have a foundation in arts and humanities in order to be more ‘rounded individuals’. In this sense, the elimination of Sinhala literature as a subject in our secondary school has already proved to be a disastrous step taken by authorities several decades ago. We as primary students in early fifties learnt to look critically at human behaviour through the reading of literature where as the present-day student has been sadly denied this opportunity.

To make teachers responsible professionals the high-ups in the education hierarchy, particularly the training institutions should be resource personnel with a high degree of integrity. Teacher training courses should be revamped in such a way as to lay additional emphasis on value education (as the Prof. Roberts has emphasized). The school curriculum has to be re-planned to include Sinhala literature as a main subject from junior secondary levels paving the way for students to make a thorough study of the work by our local authors. Verses from our traditional books like Loweda Sangarawa, Sirith Maldama, Subhashithaya and Lokopakaraya should be taught from primary level at school as was done during the early 1950s.


(Just as the sandal-wood well-known the world over for its scent sends out its fragrance if cut and pressed, great people with good qualities and intelligence never get frustrated even when ill-treated).

(Subhashithaya)

GCE A/L mess up ends up in Supreme Court

January 27, 2012, 9:28 pm , The Island.

By Chitra Weeraratne

A fundamental rights violation application was filed in the Supreme Court yesterday by 17 petitioners requesting the Court to declare null and void the results of 2011 GCE Advanced Level examination.

The petition said that the application of an erroneous and unjustifiable common formula to calculate the two Z scores of candidates who sat the examination under the new and old syllabuses had caused a gross distortion of the examination results.

The petitioners complained of arbitrary treatment by the Commissioner General of Examinations, the University Grants Commission, the Minister of Education and several other respondents.

The petition requested the Court to declare that the results so released on or around December 25, 2011 null and void.The petitioners further requested that the Z scores of the candidates be calculated according to the accepted statistical norms and principles with the new and syllabuses considered two distinct populations. The petitioners further requested the respondents to re-issue the results of all the candidates after the rectification of the errors.

Sanjeewa Kaluarachchi is the instructing attorney of this petition which is to be supported in Court shortly by Counsel J.C. Weliamunna. Among the petitioners are students and members of the Ceylon Teachers’ Union.

Former minister alleges East denied opp. to meet Kalam

January 27, 2012, 9:26 pm , The Island.


Former Minister A. R. Mansoor told The Island that the people of the Eastern Province were saddened by the failure of the Indian HC to arrange a visit to the EP by former President Dr. A. P. J. Kalam.

Munsoor said that University students and academics in the East had expected the Indian leader to visit the EP. "We were not given the opportunity afforded to University students and students in the Northern Province," Munsoor said. "I, on behalf of the academic staff and the students of the South Eastern University, extended an invitation to Indian High Commission requesting for a visit of Dr. Abdul Kalam to the Eastern Coast. The officer in the Indian High Commission gave me hope that he would endeavour to include a visit to the South Eastern University by asking me to sending an email containing my invitation. Accordingly, the Ministers in the Cabinet were also informed about the event. Alas, he is not visiting the Eastern Province at all!`

Subsequently, I learnt that a visit to the East was not possible. I consider it as a great tragedy because men of his calibre rarely visit our land. The young generation of this part of the country have missed the opportunity of seeing and meeting this great man."`

District ranking error Vs
Z score issue

January 26, 2012, 7:50 pm , The Island.

By Dhara Wijayatilake

Attorney-at-Law,

Secretary, Ministry of Technology and Research and Chairperson of the Committee Appointed by the President to Inquire into the District Ranking Error.

Much is being said about the Report of the five-member Committee appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to report on matters relating to the District ranking error that occurred in the 2011 G.C.E A/L results. Some allege that the report seeks to cover up a serious flaw in the Z score calculation that has been used. Some allege that it has not addressed a vital concern regarding the Z score.

It is unfortunate that too much is being said without even an attempt to appreciate what the Committee was directed to report on. Any Committee that is appointed is given a specific mandate. While constructive comments made after an understanding of that mandate are undoubtedly valuable, comments that are made without an understanding of that mandate must be dismissed as being irrelevant and unfortunate. Let me then make this humble attempt to clarify what I see as confusion.

District Rankings

The results of the GCE A/L examination released on December 25th, 2011 were found to contain errors with regard to the District rankings. The fact that there were errors in the district rankings was accepted and was not denied by anyone. There was no difference of opinion on that. The President desired to ascertain certain facts with regard to that error and appointed a Committee to look into it. The mandate given to the Committee was to ascertain the causes that contributed to the error with regard to the district rankings and who was responsible; to examine the computer systems used for processing and data analysis and ascertain whether these functions were carried out in compliance with acceptable standards; to ascertain whether there were any shortcomings in the technology used; and finally to recommend what steps should be taken to prevent a recurrence of such a situation. The Committee interviewed relevant persons and submitted its report which contained its findings and recommendations with regard to the matters that were referred to it. The recommendations have now been forwarded to the relevant authorities for implementation.

It is important to note that the Committee was required to ascertain the causes that contributed to the district ranking error. Clearly, the reference is to the error that was contained in the results that were first released by the Department of Examinations on 25th, December 2011. Of this there is no doubt. The Committee reported on all of the matters referred to it. The Committee obviously did not report on matters that were extraneous to its mandate.

The facts as ascertained by the Committee are as follows:

The Department of Examinations (DoE) is statutorily mandated with the power/responsibility of conducting the GCE A/L examination while the University Grants Commission (UGC) is statutorily mandated with the power of determining admission of students to institutes of higher learning. The UGC had used the Z score of candidates to determine admissions to the University since 2001 and there was no debate about the use of the Z score for this purpose. The physical activity of calculating the Z score based on whatever the UGC determined had always been carried out by the DoE which had a system in place to enter, amongst other things, the raw marks of candidates and proceed to process same to generate the Z scores.

In 2011, there were two categories of students who sat the GCE A/L – those who sat under the old syllabus and those who sat under the new syllabus. The DoE was planning on calculating the Z scores of the two categories of students as in previous years and to generate two separate lists – one with the Z scores and rankings of the old syllabus candidates and another with the Z scores and rankings of the new syllabus candidates. However, the UGC did not want two separate lists. They required the DoE to generate one list from which university admissions could be determined on merit. The UGC therefore appointed a five-member Panel of experts to obtain advice on how to produce one single list from which they could determine University admissions on merit.

The UGC obtained that advice from the Z score Expert Panel and passed the formula that the Panel proposed, to the DoE to do the calculations. The department proceeded to apply the formula given to them by the UGC and produced one list of results.

Expert Panel

As stated previously, when the GCE A/L results were released on 25th December 2011, it was found that an error had occurred in the district rankings. The DoE had, it was said, corrected that mistake and issued a new set of results with different district rankings. The President wanted an inquiry to be conducted. A Committee was appointed to inquire into it and was given the mandate previously referred to.

In pursuance of its mandate, the Committee identified how the district ranking error was caused (due to a processing error at the final stage), who was responsible for that error and after its own and independent investigations confirmed that, that error (i. e. the processing error that occurred at the final stage) had been corrected. The Committee also identified many areas that must of necessity be improved to enhance the quality of the examination process including the need for double checking and validation at every stage and made recommendations for improvement. The computer system was examined and recommendations were made with regard to improvements. It was also recommended that implementation be pursued in terms of a Plan of Action and time targets. The President has directed that the recommendations be implemented. I will not here refer to the details of the recommendations made. I am confident however that no one will call us bureaucratic lackeys or boot lickers after reading our report.

The finding of the Committee was that the error in the district rankings was caused due to a mistake that occurred at the data processing stage in the Department of Examinations. The formula adopted by the UGC to determine University admissions was not the cause of the district ranking error. Obviously, then the correctness or otherwise of the Z score formula however important it may be, (and I fully agree that it is very important) was a matter that was extraneous to the mandate of the Committee. The use of a wrong formula to calculate the Z score would have resulted not only in an error in the district rankings but also in the island rankings.

The fact that there are other issues that are also important does not give the Committee the right to step outside its given mandate and comment on such issues. The Committee had no right to assume that the appointing authority had any intention of expecting advice on those matters, from this Committee.

Clear Distinction

There is a clear distinction between an error (such as was caused in the district rankings) and a difference of opinion, such as is now raging with regard to the calculation of the Z score. There are two issues here and they are distinct and separate. The first is regarding the district rankings error and the other is regarding the formulae adopted to calculate the Z score. Please note there was no error in the island rankings in the results released on 25th December, 2011. (Prof. Gunawardane in his article in the Island of January 25th, 2011 states that there were errors in the island rankings as well, in the results issued. This is incorrect).

An error is an error – a mistake. If one needs to find out what went wrong, it’s necessary to inquire into it. On the other hand, the whole issue of the Z score and how it was calculated in the instant case of the 2011 G.C.E A/L to deal with 2 syllabi, stems from a difference of opinion. Should the Z scores have been calculated after pooling of the means and variances or should the Z score have been calculated separately? There are those who say the formula used is sound (the Z score expert Committee appointed by the UGC says so) and there are those who argue that it is not. The mere fact that there is a difference of opinion about this matter, does not, by itself, render the formula erroneous. Equally, no one who has an opinion different to the one that has now been adopted should be faulted for having that opinion. But it is absolutely important to get it right, in the end.

Obviously, the needs of decision makers in these two situations are different. While the former situation (error) requires a fact finding process to be put in place, the latter (Z score) requires expert advice.

Mr. Sumanasiri Liyanage – Island Jan 23rd, 2012, states "I strongly believe the members (of the Committee) would have carefully read the Terms of Reference (TOR) before setting about their task, asked themselves whether they could within the given mandate do justice to the issue? Had they done so, they would have realised that the investigation within the purview of the given ToR was not meaningful.’ Mr. Liyanage also hints that the investigative exercise of the Committee was destined not to produce reasonable results.

The Issue

What is this issue that’s referred to here by Mr. Liyanage? To whom is the investigation of the Committee not meaningful? The issue that the Committee was tasked to report on was the District ranking error issue. Was that not an issue? It was an issue to the many stakeholders who were as yet wondering whether even now, that error has in fact been corrected. And it was obviously an issue to the Head of State. Is it not important to ensure that such mistakes do not recur? Is it not important to ascertain whether that mistake has now been corrected as claimed by the DoE? Is it not meaningful to attempt to improve the process followed by the DoE in conducting one of the most important examinations that our students submit themselves to? Prof. R.P. Gunawardena (Island January 25th, 2012) rightly emphasises the importance of the G.C.E A/L examination. Is it then meaningless to ensure that all is right in the conduct of that examination? No, it is not. It is not only meaningful, but is also the serious responsibility of those in charge of education, to remedy what is wrong. If one is sincere about remedying what is wrong, you need to first find out what is wrong.

The mere fact that there is a difference of opinion about the Z score issue, however intrinsically connected that issue may be to the same examination (the 2011 GCE A/L), does not make the District ranking error and everything done to prevent a recurrence of such an error, meaningless.

Prof. Gunawardane in his article (Island January 25th, 2012) analyses the formula used to calculate the z scores in the 2011 examination and states that it is a fundamental error made by the expert Committee (i. e. the z score expert committee) and proceeds to suggest how it should have been done. These comments are indeed valuable. He also states that "Unfortunately, the Presidential Committee appointed to look into this matter has overlooked this important issue of using a wrong formula for the calculation of the z scores." (The Island editorial also cites this statement). No, Prof. Gunawardane, the Presidential Committee did not overlook that matter. As explained earlier, we were not appointed to look into that matter. Perhaps Prof. Gunawardane states so because of an incorrect assumption that there were island ranking errors in the results issued on 25th December, 2011 by the Department of Examinations? While the District ranking error was caused due to a processing error in the DoE, if the formula used to calculate the Z scores is not correct, it has an impact on district as well as island rankings. The question as to whether it is right or wrong or whether there is a better formula or not, are matters that must be concluded based on the best advice.

The Z score issue is one that deserves the highest consideration. What is required in that regard is not a fact finding inquiry but expert advice. The focus should be on the need to ensure that our students are treated justly and fairly and that merit alone is rewarded.

Unique You

January 26, 2012, 8:00 pm , The Island.


Former President of India,
Dr. Abdul Kalam’s Address at University of Moratuwa
Colombo
22 January 2012

Continued from yesterday

Friends, we live in an era of convergence; the future of innovation would lie at the interface of science and engineering. It is estimated that in the life of a scientist or an engineer, he or she will come across and work in at least seven new areas which are born out of convergence of multiple science and technologies. Such convergence has made the border between areas completely porous.

Let me discuss some examples.

Convergence of Technologies : bio-info-nano-eco ecology

The information technology and communication technology have already converged leading to Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Information Technology combined with bio-technology has led to bio-informatics. Similarly, Photonics is grown out from the labs to converge with classical Electronics and Microelectronics to bring in new high speed options in consumer products. Flexible and unbreakable displays using thin layer of film on transparent polymers have emerged as new symbols of entertainment and media tools. Now, Nano-technology has come in. It is the field of the future that will replace microelectronics and many fields with tremendous application potential in the areas of medicine, electronics and material science. When Nano technology and ICT meet, integrated silicon electronics, photonics are born and it can be said that material convergence will happen.

With material convergence and biotechnology linked, a new science called Intelligent Bioscience will be born which would lead to a disease free, happy and more intelligent human habitat with longevity and high human capabilities. Convergence of bio-nano-info technologies can lead to the development of nano robots. Nano robots when they are injected into a patient, my expert friends say, it will diagnose and deliver the treatment exclusively in the affected area and then the nano-robot gets digested as it is a DNA based product. I saw the product sample in one of the labs in South Korea where best of minds with multiple technology work with a target of finding out-of-the-box solution.

My experience in Harvard University: Convergence of science is reciprocating. Let me give an example. Recently, I was in the Harvard University where I visited laboratories of many eminent professors from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. I recall, how Professor Hongkun Park, showed me his invention of nano needles, which can pierce and deliver content into individual targeted cells. That’s how nano particle sciences is shaping the bio sciences. Then I met Professor Vinod Manoharan, who showed on the other hand bio sciences is in turn shaping nano material science as well. He is using DNA material to design self assembling particles. When particular type of DNA is applied on a particle at the atomic level, he is able to generate a prefixed behavior and automatic assembly from them. This could be our answer to self assembly of devices and colonies in deep space without human intervention as envisioned by Dr K Erik Drexler. Thus, within a single research building, I saw how two different sciences are shaping each other without any iron curtain between the technologists. This reciprocating contribution of sciences to one another is going to shape our future and industry needs to be ready for it. The curriculum designers of University of Moratuwa, may like to take this aspect into account while formulating new courses.

Now, a new trend is emerging. The aspect being introduced is that of Ecology. Globally, the demand is shifting towards development of sustainable systems which are technologically superior. This is the new dimension of the 21st century knowledge society, where science and environment will go together. Thus the new age model would be a four dimensional bio-nano-info-eco based.

21st century University Vision

Friends, I have in the last ten years met more than 10 Million youth and faculty from more than 150 universities in India and 37 universities in abroad. Based on these interactions, I wish to formulate a 21st university vision for your consideration.

* The universities have to prepare citizens of the future with a global outlook and be capable of serving his/her nation or nation of his/her choice.

* Science and technology and public policy are interrelated for mutual benefit and ushering in human kind’s development. This link has to be solidly built in the university education.

* Good teachers can be in any part of the world. The university has to bring in this resource through innovative content generation in virtual class rooms.

* Technological connectivities among universities have to be pursued vigorously using cost effective virtual class rooms.

* Cost effective continuing education possibilities are essential for citizens to be in tune with time.

* Can university education lead to sustainable development of the nation?

* With the world population increasing and resources dwindling, a mindset has to be developed for conserving and sharing the resources and look for new research for abundant resources. This calls for a "noble spirit" as well as a "research spirit"

In summary, the 21st century university education is about developing enlightened citizenship for a knowledge society for peace and prosperity of nations and the world. 21st century University has to be the incubator of world knowledge powerhouse.

Conclusion

Finally, I would like to ask you, what would you like to be remembered for? You have to evolve yourself and shape your life. You should write it on a page. That page may be a very important page in the book of human history. And you will be remembered for creating that one page in the history of the nation – whether that page is the page of invention, the page of innovation or the page of discovery or the page of creating societal change or a page of removing the poverty or the page of fighting injustice or a page of finding innovative cost-effective healthcare system both preventive and curative or a page of how you have facilitating establishment coastal PURA or Hill PURA in any part of Sri Lanka. I am sure, you would like to do something different – out of box missions. I will be very happy if you could write this page. And if you mail to me your dreams, I can correspond on your out of box ideas and thoughts. (apj@abdulkalam.com).

My best wishes to all of you for success in your mission of igniting the energy and ability of youth to achieve accelerated societal transformation in Sri Lanka and become an enlightened citizen of the world.

May God Bless you.

Oath for Students

1. Engineering, Technology, healthcare and Management is a life time mission. I will work, work and work and succeed.

2. Wherever I am, a thought will always come to my mind. That is what process or product I can innovate, invent or discover.

3. I will always remember that "Let not my winged days, be spent in vain".

4. I realize I have to set a great technological goal that will lead me to think high, work and persevere to realize the goal.

5. My greatest friends will be great scientific/technological minds, good teachers and good books.

6. I firmly believe that no problem can defeat me; I will become the captain of the problem, defeat the problem and succeed.

7. I will work and work for removing the problems faced by planet earth in the areas of water, energy, habitat, waste management and environment through the application of science and technology.

8. I will work and work for making Sri Lanka a granary of south-east Asia.

9. I will be a good member of my family, a good member of the society, a good member of the nation and a good member of the world.

Concluded

Three Pera U’grads remanded

January 26, 2012, 10:18 pm , The Island.

By Cyril Wimalasurendre

KANDY: Three undergraduates, arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department on allegations that they were involved in incidents of ragging and sexual abuse, were yesterday (26) remanded till February 09 by the Chief Magistrate of Kandy Ravindra Premaratne.

Twenty two others were released on surety bail in Rs. 100,000 each by the Chief Magistrate.

Those allowed bail were warned that they should not be involved in incidents of ragging and demonstrations until the hearing of the case was over.

The case was put off to February 9.

The suspects were second year undergraduates of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Peradeniya.

The three remanded were Charith Lakmal, Ruchira Madushantha and Yohan Sandaruwan.

ASP Nagahamulla of the CID prosecuted.

Attorneys Sugath Karawita, Tissa Marahela and Pradeep Ranasinghe appeared for the suspect students.

GMOA tells Carlo not  to be a dictator

January 26, 2012, 10:24 pm , The Island.

By Don Asoka Wijewardena

Government Medical Officers Association President Dr. Anuruddda Padeniya yesterday requested Sri Lanka Medical Council President Prof. Carlo Fonseka not to be a dictator when taking decisions at the council. During the decision-making processes of the SLMC its President was required to listen to the comments, suggestions and objections of other members, he said.

The latest GMOA outburst came over a statement made by Prof. Fonseka that he would discuss with unsuccessful ERPM examination medical students’ parents and do them justice. All foreign qualified medical graduates are required to pass the Examination Registration to Practice Medicine (ERPM) in Sri Lanka.

The SLMC’s main functions were to maintain a standard medical service, code of ethics for doctors and professionalism. It had been maintaining the medical profession independently. If personal interests and decisions of its President were applied, the credibility of the medical profession would fade away, Dr. Padeniya told a Media Conference at the GMOA Head Office.

He said that it was a pre-requisite of each doctor to pass the ERPM examination before practicing medicine here. A doctor who failed the ERPM examination could not practice medicine. There were doctors who had not been able to pass the examination. When some unsuccessful ERPM exam doctors’ parents met the SLMC President, he had told them that he would try to find out the cause of examination failure and settle it.

The GMOA President said that there were guidelines to maintain the quality of examinations. If doctors failed the relevant examinations, lowering of standard pass marks would do more harm than good to the profession. It was a breach of professional etiquette, he said.

Regarding the transport allowance of doctors Dr. Padeniya pointed out that when the GMOA representatives met President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2008, he agreed to provide Rs. 30,000 as transport allowance. Currently, only Rs. 12,500 was given to doctors. That amount was not enough for the Disturbance, Availability and Transport Allowance. He said the GMOA would request the government to implement it without delay.

Unique You

January 25, 2012, 7:51 pm , The Island.


Former President of India,
Dr. Abdul Kalam’s Address at University of Moratuwa
Colombo

22 January 2012

I am delighted to address and interact with the Students and Faculty Members of the University of Moratuwa in this beautiful environment of Colombo. My greetings to all of you. I found that the University has chosen the motto "Vidyaiwa Sarwadhanam – meaning Wisdom is all Wealth". This has an important and powerful message to all the students and faculty members. The study of the website of the University indicates that the University has a vision "To be the most globally recognized Knowledge Enterprise in Asia". With this vision, the University has a mission "produce world class graduates in technological fields who will be relevant nationally and internationally". I am happy to know that the students of the university are self confident, flexible, highly employable and are trained to become "employment creators" instead of being "employment seekers". I congratulate the pioneers both present and past who have created and nurtured a robust educational system in the University of Moratuwa during the last 33 years. Today, I would like to share few thoughts on the topic "Unique You".

First let us see the ten unique personalities,.

Unique You

Dear friends, Look up, what do you see, the light, the electric bulbs. Immediately, our thoughts go to the inventor Thomas Alva Edison, for his unique contribution towards the invention of electric bulb and his electrical lighting system.

When you hear the sound of aero-plane going over your house, whom do you think of? Wright Brothers proved that man could fly, of-course at heavy risk and cost.

Whom does the telephone remind you of? Of course, Alexander Graham Bell.

When everybody considered a sea travel as an experience or a voyage, aunique person questioned during his sea travel from United Kingdom to India. He was pondering on why the horizon where the sky and sea meet looks blue? His research resulted in the phenomena of scattering of light. Of course, Sir CV Raman was awarded Nobel Prize.

Do you know an Indian Mathematician who did not have formal higher education but had inexhaustible spirit and love for mathematics which took him to contribute to the treasure houses of mathematical research – some of which are still under serious study and engaging all-available world mathematicians’ efforts to establish formal proofs? He was a unique Indian genius who could melt the heart of the most hardened and outstanding Cambridge mathematician Prof G H Hardy. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that it was Prof. Hardy who discovered a great mathematician for the world. This mathematician was of-course Srinivasa Ramanujan for whom every number was a divine manifestation.

Do you know the scientist who is famous for Chandra Limit which describes the maximum mass (~1.44 solar masses) of a white dwarf star, or equivalently, the minimum mass for which a star will ultimately collapse into a neutron star to black hole following a supernova. Two of his students got the Nobel Prize before him. It is of-course the famous Nobel Laureate Chandrasekhar Subrmaniam .

Friends, there was a great scientific lady who is known for discovering Radium. She won not one, but two Nobel Prizes, one for physics and another for chemistry. Who is she? She is Madam Curie. Madam Curie discovered radium and she was doing research on the effect of radiation on human system. The same radiation which she discovered, affected her and she sacrificed her life for removing the pain of human life.

Do you know about a great human being with a spirit of service, who also won a Nobel Prize for her contributions? She said and practiced, "Give, give and give, until it hurts". She is Mother Teresa.

Do you know the Sri Lankan Physicist, academician and economist who had worked on energy, sustainable development and climate change and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Mr Al Gore in 2007? Of course he is the great Prof. Mohan Munasinghe.

Arthur Clarke, the visionary in space communication who made Sri Lanka his home revolutionized the world with his concept of geostationary communication satellites

Do you know the cosmic ray scientist who transformed into institution builder of institutions like Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad – Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and Indian Space Research Organisation? Of course he is the visionary Prof Vikram Sarabhai.

When I described to you young friends, these historical ten events, you all jumped. The scientist, technologist and great human being, who created the event, are unique personalities. Young friends, can you join such unique performers of scientific history? Yes, you can. Definitely, you can. Let us study together, how it can be made possible?

Friends, I have, so far, met 12 million youth in a decade’s time. I learnt, "every youth wants to be unique, that is, YOU! But the world all around you, is doing its best, day and night, to make you just "everybody else". At home, dear young friends, you are asked by your parents to be like neighbours’ children for scoring good marks. When you go to school, your teacher says "why not you become like the first five rankers in the class". Wherever you go, they are saying "you have to be somebody else or everybody else".

The challenge, my young friends, is that you have to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can ever imagine to fight; and never stop fighting until you arrive at your destined place, that is, a UNIQUE YOU! Friends what will be your tools to fight this battle, what are they: have a great aim in life, continuously acquire the knowledge, work hard and persevere to realize the great achievement.

Dear friends, when I see you all, I am thinking how you can achieve what you envision in your life?

Criteria for achievement for youth

How does achievement come? There are four proven steps; having an aim in life before 20 years of age, acquiring knowledge continuously, hard work towards the aim and perseverance to defeat the problem and succeed. In this connection let me recall famous verses of 13th century Persian Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi:

Wings to Fly

"You were born with potential.

You were born with goodness and trust.

You were born with ideas and dreams.

You were born with greatness.

You were born with wings.

You are not meant for crawling,

so don’t, you have wings.

Learn to use them to fly."

- Jalaluddin Rumi

- 13th Century Persian Sufi Poet

My message to you, young friends, is that education gives you wings to fly. Achievement comes out of fire in our sub-conscious mind that "I will win". So, each one of you assembled here and elsewhere, will have "Wings of Fire". The Wing of Fire will indeed lead to knowledge which will make you a great technologist, or an Engineer, or a designer, or a teacher, or a political leader, or a bureaucrat or a diplomat or you would like to walk on the Moon and Mars or anything you want to be. I would like to assert that "No youth today need to fear about the future". How? The ignited mind of the youth is the most powerful resource on the earth, under the earth and above the earth.

System design, system integration and system management

Since I am in the midst of students being prepared for techno-managerial expertise, I would like to give my experience with a teacher who taught me system design, system integration and system management in an integrated learning environment.

While I was studying Aeronautical Engineering in Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), Chennai, (1954-57), during the third year of my course, I was assigned a project with five other colleagues, to design a low-level attack aircraft. I was given the responsibility of system design and system integration by integrating the team members. Also, I was responsible for aerodynamic and structural design of the project. The other five members of my team took up the design of propulsion, control, guidance, avionics and instrumentation of the aircraft. My design teacher Prof. Srinivasan, the then Director of MIT, was our guide. He reviewed the project and declared my work to be gloomy and disappointing. He didn’t lend an ear to my difficulties in bringing together data-base from multiple designers. I asked for a month’s time to complete the task, since I had to get the inputs from five of my other colleagues without which I cannot complete the system design. Prof. Srinivasan told me "Look, young man, today is Friday afternoon. I give you three days time, by Monday morning if I don’t get the configuration design, your scholarship will be stopped." I had a jolt in my life, as scholarship was my lifeline, without which I cannot continue with my studies. There was no other way out, but to finish the task. My team felt the need for working together round the clock. We didn’t sleep that night, working on the drawing board skipping our dinner. On Saturday, I took just an hour’s break. On Sunday morning, when I was near completion, I felt someone’s presence in my laboratory. It was Prof. Srinivasan studying my progress. After looking at my work, he patted and hugged me affectionately. He had words of appreciation: "I knew I was putting you under stress and asking you to meet a difficult deadline. You have done a great job in system design".

Through this review mechanism of Prof Srinivasan, I was injected the necessity of understanding the value of time by each team member and brought out the best from the system design team. I realized that if something is at stake, the human minds get ignited and the working capacity gets enhanced manifold. That’s what exactly happened. The message is: whatever be their specialization, the students should be trained to systems approach and projects, which will prepare them for new products, innovation and undertaking higher organizational responsibilities. A great teacher inspires the young students like Prof. Srinivasan.

I am confident that the University of Moratuwa will break all the inter-disciplinary barriers and promote inter-disciplinary research among the students and faculty members.

To be continued tomorrow

Japanese educationalist puzzled by Lankan university protest

January 25, 2012, 9:51 pm , The Island.


By Jayantha de Silva

The current wave of university students’ strikes over the establishment of private universities and the presentation of the private university bill was viewed negatively by two eminent educationalists from Japan.

"In Japan only 20 percent are state universities. In contrast to Sri Lanka Japanese university students ceased to resort to strikes to win their demands since the 70’s, said Professor Kondo Yuichi, Dean of Admissions, of the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) and Professor of the College of Asia Pacific Studies, in an exclusive interview with The Island on Tuesday (24).

The APU signed agreements with D. S. Senanayake College, Colombo and Trinity College Kandy to offer scholarships to students of the two schools to study at APU.

The Principal of D. S. Senanayake College, Dayaratne Dissanayake and the Principal of Trinity College, Brig. Udaya Ariyaratne and Prof. Kondo Yuichi of APU signed the agreements.

Prof. Yuichi said Sri Lanka also should have private universities due to the fact that the central government’s resources were limited. Private universities’ mission is to identify what to teach’ in context of the National Policy.

He called for the private universities to be empowered with the right to award a wider spectrum of higher degrees with a view to mould future leaders of Asia.

When queried as to how the examinations should be conducted, he explained that one examination could be held by the university itself and the second examination to be held at the national level by the government, thus eliminating a lowering of academic standards.

Asked how the less affluent student segments could gain entry to the private universities he said that in Japan such students were granted long term low interest loans amounting to almost zero interests.

A stipulated requirement was that the loans had to be repaid once the recipients were gainfully employed.

Governments were progressively getting weak.

Sri Lanka should take a cue from Korea and western nations where private universities were in the main stream of education, the Professor noted.

Referring to the advantages students stand to accrue in private universities he explained that by empowering private universities to design their own programmes of studies, it enabled students to select courses according to their aspirations.

Ms. Ikue Matsumo, Senior Admission Counsellor of the (APU) said that opening of private universities augured well for Sri Lanka.

Speaking on modalities on entry requirements, she advocated a minimum three passes at GCE A/L for entry should be stipulated.

She justified low entry requirements as "more can gain entry" to the university.

In addition, a score of 5.5 in IELTS and the stipulated standard in TOFEL should be made mandatory, she said.

Atomic Energy Authority out to control cowboys operating X-ray machines

January 25, 2012, 9:49 pm, The Island.

By Pabodha Hettige

The National Atomic Energy Authority (NAEA) wants all operators of X-ray machines to obtain a license in order to prevent hazards caused by radiation, Chairman of the authority Dr. Ranjith Wijewardene said. The license would be issued for two years ensuring that the machines are not substandard and the public is protected from the radiation emitted by the machines.

"The Radiation Protection Division of the NAEA had started to inspect the machines in operation acting on complaints received from the public and legal action had been instituted against several technicians," he said.

According to NAEA Chairman the authority had discovered x-ray leakages and unclear images in sub standard x-ray machines used at several places.

Exposure to radiation could result in inducing cancer. Most of the sub-standard machines were unable to control the dose of radiation emitted.

Currently there were 740 X-ray machines registered under the NAEA in countrywide hospitals and medical laboratories. The authority had also sent letters to nearly 20 laboratories operating without licence for immediate registration.

The NAEA requests the public to obtain services from a registered X-ray technician and the public is also requested to inform the NAEA about the unregistered places on numbers 011-2533427/8.

SB hums different tune after his claims are countered

Former Exam Chief strikes discordant note

January 25, 2012, 9:38 pm , The Island.


by Dasun Edirisinghe

Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake yesterday claimed that he had wanted Prof. R. O. Thattil on the panel of experts which introduced a new Z score formula combining the results of old and new syllabuses at the last GCE (A/L), but the Examination Department and the University Grants Commission opposed his appointment to the panel.

Addressing a news conference at the UGC Auditorium, Minister Dissanayake said that he couldn’t override their decisions.

Former Secretary to the Ministry of Education and Higher Education Prof. R. P. Gunawardena on Tuesday criticized the government for not including Prof. Thattil in the panel that worked out the new Z score formula.

Answering a question raised by a journalist, Minister Dissanayake agreed that the then Education and Higher Education Minister selected Prof. Thattil’s proposal to implement the ‘Z’ – Score scheme during 2000/ 2001 from 11 other proposals.

"When I suggested Prof. Thattil’s name to the panel, the Examinations Department opposed it on grounds that Prof. Thattil had submitted a letter to Court in favour of a student who had filed a case against the Examinations Department and UGC," he said.

Dissanayake said that the UGC too opposed Prof Thattil’s appointment as there were several audit queries against the Professor when he was working as the Director of the Peradeniya University’s Post Graduate Institute.

The Minister also said that the ‘Z’ – score system was the best measurement to select students to the universities.

When contacted by The Island, former Commissioner General of Examinations Anura Edirisinghe denied Minister Dissanayake’s claim that the Examinations Department objected to the appointment of Prof. Thattil.

"We neither opposed nor agreed with Prof. Thattil’s appointment to the panel," he said adding that the Examinations Department was not aware of the experts in the panel until it was officially announced.

UGC Chairman Prof. Gamini Samaranayake said Prof. Thattil was not the only statistician in the country.

"There is no doubt he’s an expert, but we appointed a five-member experts committee," he said adding that they had focused on experts to access easily as they were residing in Colombo suburbs.

He said that they also wanted to include the Vice Chancellor of the Peradeniya University in the panel, but it was cancelled due to the fact he was in Kandy.

Prof. Samaranayake said that they had invited another expert who worked with Prof. Thattil but he declined to join the panel.

He declined to comment on audit queries against Prof. Thattil.