Jaffna University gets lion’s share of funds - SB

January 11, 2012, 9:46 pm , The Island.


By Shamindra Ferdinando

Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake yesterday warned that a split in the JVP could lead to their third insurrection since April 1971.

Addressing the university community at the Jaffna University, Minister Dissanayake alleged that the breakaway rebel group was contemplating an armed struggle. Asserting that the number of undergraduates aligned with the JVP was relatively low now, Minister Dissanayake expressed concern the rebels had won their confidence.

The warning was in the wake of University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Prof. Gamini Samaranayake alleging that the JVP rebels were trying to stage an uprising similar to ‘Arab Spring.’

Since the conclusion of the country’s war on terror in May2009, JVP rebel operatives had been making an attempt to reach an understanding with the northern undergraduates and those who had fought for the LTTE, Minister Dissanayake said. The government was aware of rebel operatives visiting the Jaffna University in a bid to strike a deal with northern undergraduates.   

The Higher Education Minister was in Jaffna to explore ways and means of improving the conditions at the university there.

Commenting on post-war developments in the higher education sector, Minister Dissanayake said that the Jaffna University had received much more funds than any other University for 2012. In keeping with an accelerated project, the government had allocated Rs. 573mn for the premier higher education institute in the Northern region.

MP Dissanayake acknowledged the urgent need to provide adequate accommodation for the students of the Jaffna University. Due to a sharp increase in the number of local tourists from the South, undergraduates find it extremely difficult to find accommodation, the minister said.

The government was in the process of building two hostels for the benefit of undergraduates. Minister Dissanayake said that least two more hostels were needed to meet the current requirement for accommodation.

The government intended to provide the Jaffna University a fully equipped playground, including indoor facility and additional lecture theatres and the Engineering Faculty would be shifted to Kilinochchi, he said.

Responding to allegations that the Rajapaksa administration was flooding the Universities at Jaffna and Vantharamoolai, Batticaloa with Sinhala students, Minister Dissanayake emphasized that selections were made purely on qualifications and the Z score obtained by successful candidates. The minister stressed that the government would never allow universities to function or set up on the basis of ethnicity or religion.

Minister Dissanayake said his ministry was in the process of bringing in legislation to streamline private universities first introduced way back in 1987 by the J. R. Jayewardene government.  Of the 59 higher education ventures approved by the BOI, 51 continued their operations, he said, underscoring the need to empower the UGC and the Higher Education Ministry to supervise private educational institutes.

Alleging that a section of the Tamil media had misinterpreted a recent speech he had delivered at the Eastern University at Vantharamoolai, Minister Dissanayake said the Tamils living in the Northern Province never wanted to divide the country on ethnic lines. The failure on the part of the two major political parties to develop the two Provinces since Independence had led to political turmoil culminating in a bloody war. But today the two Provinces were undergoing rapid transformation, the minister said.

The minister warned that Western powers were bent on destabilizing India.  The success of their operation targeting India would entirely depend on breaking-up Sri Lanka on ethnic lines.