Delay in appointing Dean:

Medical dons  put off strike

November 27, 2014, 10:25 pm , The Island

by Dilanthi Jayamanne

The Faculty of Medicine Teachers Association (FMTA) yesterday called off its token strike and re-scheduled it for Dec. 4 following a decision taken at a meeting held on Wednesday (26) evening.

President of the FMTA, Prof. C. Deepal Mathew said that his association, however, hoped to discuss the matter with the Colombo University authorities and the Minister of Higher Education again before launching the strike.

Responding to the Colombo University Vice Chancellor's comment that the there was a financial inquiry against the senior professor elected as the new Dean of the Colombo Medical Faculty, Prof. Mathew said that the alleged inquiry was about a research grant for an education programme. The total amount had not been utilized as was more than the estimated cost, he said. The balance had been transferred to the Colombo University account.

Anyone could seek the opinion of the Attorney General. But, there was no legal barrier against appointing the Dean elect. "However we will remember that it would be the students and their parents who would suffer if we go on strike and no one else," he said.

The FMTA was to brief the press regarding the token strike yesterday morning, but journalists were turned away at the Medical Faculty gate on the grounds that the university authorities had not been informed of the media event.

Prof. Mathew, who is the Head of the Biochemistry Unit of the Medical Faculty, said that he had discussed the matter with the security officers at the gate and he had been told that only the print media would be allowed in.

Meanwhile, Vice Chancellor of the Colombo University, Kumara Hirimburegama said that the University could not appoint a person who had a financial inquiry against him a. However they were seeking the AG's opinion on the matter.

 

JVP blames SB of bungling plan to make Lanka an education hub

The Island, November 17, 2014, 12:00 pm


By Saman Indrajith

The government had proposed to make Sri Lanka the centre of education in the region by 2020 but that would not be feasible as the country’s education sector on its last legs thanks to the politicos, the JVP said in Parliament yesterday.

JVP Colombo District MP Sunil Handunnetti participating in the committee stage debate on budget 2015 under the expenditure heads of the Ministry of Higher Education said that higher education sector had collapsed owing to appointing a minister who treats university students as animals.

"The government boasts of converting the country into a centre of education by 2020, but at the rate we are going, what seems feasible is converting Sri Lanka into a place where animals are taught. The Minister himself calls university students animals. If he the Minister is going to treat University students like animals, there is no hope of making Sri Lanka an education hub by 2020" MP Handunnetti said.

Handunnetti accused Minister of Higher Education S.B. Dissanayake, of using the universities for political purposes. "The Minister sees senior staff members in universities as UPFA supporters and uses them as political tools. The government accused us the JVP of having a political representatives in universities when it is you all who have politicized the University system" Handunnetti said.

He noted that the banning of student councils in universities was a violation of human rights of students. "It has been 600 days since the Human Rights commission notified the government that it was a violation of the students human rights to ban student associations; but still no action has been taken by the state to allow university students to form Student Associations" the MP said.

Undergrads launch signature campaign against PMC,  fee-paying university courses

November 6, 2014, 9:47 pm





by Dasun Edirisinghe

Undergraduates launched a campaign to collect signatures on a 50-foot-long banner in protest against the Malabe Private Medical College, fee-paying courses offered by national universities and funds collected by schools from parents.

Convener of the Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) Najith Indika said that the university students had launched their campaign from Fort Railway Station and already collected a large number of signatures in Galle and Anuradhapura.

He said that they expected to collect signatures for the banner from 150 towns in the country within three weeks. "We educate people on present education privatization plans and launch leaflet distribution campaigns parallel to collecting signatures."

At the SLFP Media Conference on Wednesday, Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said some parents donated money to schools on their own and principals did not ask for funds.

Docs out for higher education secy.’s scalp

Delay in issuing amended gazette on PMCs

 

November 3, 2014, 9:58 pm

By Don Asoka Wijewardena

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) yesterday decided to write a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa seeking the removal of Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne, who had, it said, failed to issue the amended gazette notification on degree awarding status of non-state institutes.

GMOA Executive Committee member Dr. Narth Wijesuriya, addressing the media yesterday, alleged that the Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Navaratne had issued a gazette notification on August 22, 2013 recognising some non-state organisations as degree awarding Institutes.

Dr. Wijesuriya said Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) President Prof. Carlo Fonseka had requested President Mahinda Rajapaksa to instruct Higher Education Ministry Secretary Navarathne to amend the gazette notification. The President had subsequently instructed Dr. Navaratne to cancel the notification issued on August 22, 2013 and issue another one. But, Dr. Navaratne had not carried out the presidential order, the GMOA Executive Committee member said.

Dr. Jayantha Navaratne, contacted for comment, said that President Rajapaksa had instructed him to cancel the gazette notification issued on August 22, 2013. He had referred the amended draft to the Legal Draftsman. It would take some time because the Ministry had to examine it in relation to other fields such as engineering and architecture. As soon as he got the Draft from the Legal Draftsman he would issue a special gazette notification, he said.

SLMC President Prof. Carlo Fonseka said that in accordance with the provisions of the Sri Lanka Medical Ordinance, no doctor could practise medicine without registration with the SLMC. If any private medical school complied with the SLMC guidelines it would have to be registered, he said.

Pie in the sky, say dons and undergrads
An attainable goal, claims ministry secy

Increasing university intake to 100,000 by 2020: Two new universities to be set up

November 2, 2014, 9:21 pm

by Dasun Edirisinghe

University teachers, undergraduates and the Opposition claim that President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s recent budget proposal to increase the annual university intake to 100,000 by 2020 is not feasible given the woefully inadequate facilities at the national universities.

Executive Committee member of the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri said that it was not possible to achieve the target within six years without compromising the quality of the university education.

The government had opened some faculties such as Engineering and Medicine but there was much to be desired as regards the quality of education they imparted,  Dr. Dewasiri said, claiming that the standards of some technical colleges were much higher than the newly established engineering faculties.

At present, 25,000 students admitted to the national universities annually.

Dr. Dewasiri said that there was a shortage of lecturers in several universities including the Colombo University, but the government did not take action to recruit qualified teachers to fill the existing vacancies. The universities were also expiring infrastructural problems, he pointed out. "The government keeps telling us that a programme is underway to raise the standards of our universities so that they will be among the best in the region, but how can it achieve this lofty goal without improving the quality of university education?"

The senior don accused the government of being manically focused on mega development projects at the expense of the higher education sector.

Convener of the Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) Najith Indika said that government cut down on funds allocation for universities every year but it was now planning to increase the university intake by 75,000 in six years.

He said that the government promoted private universities without increasing facilities for state universities.

"We need to know President Rajapaksa’s vision to increase the intake in 2020 by enrolling students at both state and private universities," Indika said.

UNP MP Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said that a government which could not even maintain the existing facilities at universities had set an unattainable goal for itself for political reasons.

He said that the government found it difficult to enroll at least two batches simultaneously. He dismissed the government plan to increase the annual university intake to 100,000 in six years as pie in the sky. "The government is trying to take the people for a right royal ride once again, but they are wiser unlike in the past as could be seen from the lesson they taught it in Badulla at the last PC polls."

Kariyawasam said that capital expenditure for universities had been reduced by 60% besides the 50% decrease thereof during the last few years.

When contacted for comment, Secretary of the Higher Education Ministry Dr. Sunil Jayantha Nawaratne said that it was possible to increase the university intake to the level set by the President and that goal would certainly be achieved by 2020.

He said that plans were already underway to set up more faculties at several universities and to establish two new universities. He said the government was capable of achieving the goal in spite of what its detractors said.

An MoU on a new university called China-Sri Lanka Friendship University had been signed during the recent visit of Chinese President in Sri Lanka and a proposal had been prepared for a Japan-Sri Lanka Friendship University, too, Dr. Nawaratne said.

He said that government had planned to achieve the target not only with the 17 state universities but also with the semi-government universities such as SLIIT, CINEC, NSBM and nine degree awarding institutions.

No hostel facilities will be given to second and third year undergrads — SB

Says no such precedent

November 1, 2014, 6:52 pm


by Saman Indrajith

Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake yesterday said that no hostel facilities would be provided to second and third year undergraduates in universities.

"The second and third year undergraduates were never provided with hostels in the past, they are not given hostels today and would not be given the facility in the future. We provide hostel facilities only to first and last year undergraduates," he said.

Responding to a question raised by UNP Ratnapura District MP Dunesh Gankanda, the minister said there were 94,494 undergraduates in the universities including the Open University, of them 36,121 had been provided with hostel facilities. Except for the students enrolled in the Open University only around 5,000 undergraduates remain without hostel facilities, the minister said.

He said that 30 new hostels have been built to accommodate 12,000 undergraduates. Thirty more new hostels too would be constructed soon.

MP Gankanda: The Mahinda Chinthana manifesto promises hostel facilities to each and every undergraduate. Why won’t the government provide hostel facilities to the second and third year undergraduates?

Minister Dissanayake: No hostel facilities had been given to the second and third year students of universities. Not in the past, not in the present not in the future. It is our intention to introduce university village system for the second and third year undergraduates, who mostly live in nearby houses on rent. We plan to help the owners of those houses to increase the number of rooms in their houses.

MP Gankanda: After beating Sabaragamuwa undergraduates recently you went on record saying that you knew how to treat them if there was no election coming up. If your government goons had smashed the heads of undergraduates and set their makeshift satyagraha stages on fire with an election around the corner we cannot even imagine how would you treat them not non-election time. Could you explain?

Minister Dissanayake: "I can very well, but it is not relevant to the question you asked."