U’grads to protest against Mahapola Fund decision

May 8, 2012, 10:38 pm , the island

by Dasun Edirisinghe

Undergraduates will launch a protest campaign against the Mahapola Trust Fund’s decision to cancel Mahapola payments of those who do not participate in lectures and those involved in anti-disciplinary activities.

Convener of the Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) Sanjeewa Bandara told The Island that the Mahapola Trust Fund doesn’t have right to get involved in internal matters of the universities.

He said that the university education system is student based and not teacher based like school education.

"If someone thinks that undergraduates must attend lectures it’s a joke," Bandara said.

Most of undergraduates have to do part time jobs as the cost of living has sky rocketed and Mahapola or bursary payments are not enough for their expenses. They can’t borrow money from their homes as their parents too suffer with the CoL, he said.

Bandara said the quality of some lectures was not of the appropriate level.

He claimed that the government was not looking at those problems, but was only trying to suppress undergraduates day by day.

"Mahapola payments have not been increased since 2005," Bandara said adding that students get Rs. 2,500 as monthly Mahapola payment but it was not paid on time.

During the last six years, the government cut down the number of Mahapola receivers by 60 per cent, he said.

Bandara said that they would launch a collective protest campaign with all undergraduates in the country shortly against this harassment.