Z Score: Delay in implementing SC directive queried

July 6, 2012, 9:45 pm 

By Saman Indrajith, the island

The main Opposition UNP queried in Parliament yesterday as to why the government authorities concerned were delaying the implementation of the Court ruling delivered on the 25th of last month with regard to the ‘Z-score’ crisis.

UNP National List MP D. M. Swaminathan, participating in an adjournment debate, said that it had resulted in a serious crisis.

"The scheme of allocating ‘Z-score’ has loomed into a colossal national problem today. The lethargic attitude of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education is the contributory factor for this national problem relating to results of last year’s GCE Advanced Level examination. It is very unfortunate that still a concrete decision has not been taken to solve this problem."

"The Supreme Court has given a brilliant judgement with regard to the ‘Z-score’ Scheme. I take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to the Supreme Court for its superb decision in this regard."

He said: "We all know that the future of our children depends mainly on their education. We cannot allow the education to be obliterated by the lethargic attitude of a few officers. This august House has a right to probe into this.

"The Supreme Court has ruled that the ‘Z-score’ should be evaluated separately based on the results of the students who sat for the GC.E Advanced Level Examination according to the old syllabus and the new syllabus.

"The Supreme Court held that injustices had been done to students who sat the examination based on two different categories of recommendations in respect of the ‘Z-score’ scheme. While adopting the new procedure, if university admission is denied to those who are already selected to enter universities based on the earlier evaluation, such denial cannot be tolerated. I call upon this House to mete out justice to them as well.

"The concern that should be addressed here is as to how long these committees, appointed by the government, will take to come out with their decisions. I request that steps be taken to resolve this problem as soon as practicable without wasting time.

"I wish to bring to the notice of this House that the ruling of the Court relating to the ‘Z-score’ was on the 25th of last month, there has been a delay in implementing same. It is the hapless students who are aggrieved by this. I request this House not to plunge them into darkness.

"Though it is more than two weeks since the judgment was delivered the Ministry of Higher Education, Department of Examinations and the University Grants Commission are jointly and severally shirking their responsibilities putting the blame on others, wasting time delaying their actions and appointing committees etc. I request to forgive and forget the mistakes unmindful of those who are accountable for same and come forward to implement at least the judgment of Court to enliven the life of these poor students.

"Every second delayed in implementing the judgment of the Court merely because of the authoritarian tussle of the ministers and higher authorities will erode the lives of these students. I wish to stress, at this point, that any further delay in finding a solution to this problem might cause a mighty agitation to flare up," the MP said.

FUTA to continue strike until demands are met

July 6, 2012, 10:22 pm 

By Harischandra Gunaratna, the island

The Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) President Dr Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri yesterday said that his association’s talks with President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga had not reached fruition. However, he said, Weeratunga had given the FUTA representatives a patient hearing unlike Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake, whom he accused of having a confrontational approach.

Dr. Devasiri said the FUTA would continue its on-going strike until its demands were met.

Sri Lanka’s education sector was facing a severe crisis and Higher Education Minister had to change his attitude, the FUTA president said, urging the government to get its priorities right. He said it now had to decide whether to invest in the loss incurring Mihin Lanka or in education.

Addressing a news conference at the National Library Services Auditorium in Colombo, Dr. Devasiri said: "The government is attempting to give a different interpretation to our struggle and it is resorting to cheap propaganda by enlisting the support of bankrupt trade unionists who talk out of turn and try to teach university teachers what to do."

Devasiri paid a tribute to one of the founders of the Communist party of Sri Lanka Dr. S. A. Wickremasinghe, whom he described as one of the few leaders who had understood the value of education.

Asked whether FUTA had faith in the government, Dr. Devasiri said going by the manner in which the powers that be handled the university issue, he did not think they were making a genuine effort to settle the dispute.

The FUTA president said the government kept on asking the masses to tighten their belts while increasing the salaries of parliamentarians, bureaucrats and their favourites. "There is so much corruption and waste in the government but when the university teachers request a salary increase or urge it to invest more in education, it tightens purse strings."

 "The government boasts that the country’s economy is expanding fast, but in the same breadth it claims that it cannot increase the salaries of university teachers," Dr. Devasiri said.

Universities paralysed by teachers’ strike

July 5, 2012, 12:00 pm 

by Dasun Edirisinghe, the island

Universities countrywide were paralysed for the second day yesterday due to the strike launched by lecturers demanding that the government allocate 6 per cent of GDP for the education sector, engages university teachers in the process of making decisions involving the higher education sector and grant a pay hike.

President of the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri told The Island that all universities, except Uva-Wellassa, Kelaniya and the medical faculties, joined the strike.

"There are no trade unions in the newly formed Uva-Wellassa University, but now they are in a process of forming a teachers’ union," he said adding they too would join the strike soon.

Dr. Devasiri said that 60 teachers of the Kelaniya University had requested their union’s main body to join the strike and the union had decided to call a special committee meeting to discuss the matter.

Sources said the meeting would be held next Wednesday and the teachers would decide whether to join the strike or not.

Dr. Devasiri said that so far there had been no response from the government over university teachers’ ongoing trade union action.

When contacted by The Island, Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne said that they were studying the FUTA’s proposals, submitted at the meeting held on Tuesday at the Presidential Secretariat.

"We will provide a solution at the next meeting scheduled to be held on July 12," he said.

Meanwhile, the Association of Law Teachers of the University of Colombo (ALTUC) has decided to launch a strike from July 11, 2012 in support of FUTA.

In a media statement, the ALTUC said yesterday that it fully endorsed the demands put forth by FUTA:

* State expenditure on education, including higher education, should be increased. Only then will the state education system be able to provide a high quality education to students.

* Salary issues of academics should be resolved. Unless this happens, the university system will not be able to retain academics of high caliber, and this will impact negatively on research and learning.

*         A Sri Lanka University Academic Service (SLUAS) should be established.

*         A consultative process, including opinions of the academic community, should be followed when deciding on the liberalization of higher education.

*         Autonomy of the university system should be guaranteed so that academics may function in an environment conducive to independent thought and meaningful research.

ALTUC has decided to launch a strike action with effect from 11th July 2012, in support of FUTA.

 

Jaffna docs on strike today

July 5, 2012, 12:00 pm 

By Don Asoka Wijewardena, the island

Around 350 doctors attached to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital will stage a token strike from 8.00 am. to 8.00 pm today in protest against the failure on the part of the police to arrest those responsible for the June 14 attack on Dr. Nadaraja Jayakumaran’s residence and alleged maladministration of the hospital.

According to the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA), emergency services will not be disrupted.

The GMOA media spokesman, Dr. Navin de Soysa, told The Island that with the concurrence of the mother union, the GMOA branch union at the Jaffna hospital would launch the strike.

Jaffna hospital Consultant Oncologist Dr. Nadaraja Jayakumaran’s residence was attacked on June 14. He was also threatened. The police had not acted on his complaint, the GMOA spokesman said.

When contacted for comment Jaffna Teaching Hospital Director Dr. Ms. Bavani Pashupathyraja said that many OPD and Clinic patients would be affected due to the strike. Around 700 to 800 OPD and 2,000 patients visited clinics daily. "I have already informed the Director General of Health Services Dr. Ajith Mendis of the strike. It is my duty. But what the GMOA is doing is not acceptable in principle. Just because of police inefficiency and hospital maladministration, GMOA should not resort to trade union action. Matters of immediate concern can be sensibly settled."

She added that the Deputy Director General of Health Services Dr. Ananada Gunasekera had visited the hospital on July 2 and held a series of discussions with the GMOA members.

Government’s score on the Z-score

July 4, 2012, 7:08 pm ,the island

A controversy that rocked the ‘Education Boat’ for months is said to have been settled by the judgment of the Supreme Court in the Z-score case, but not before exposing many a growing mind to anxiety and retarding their A-Level studies seriously.

 To my knowledge, none of the Judges on the Bench was more of an expert in mathematics or management than the ones to which the ministers concerned had ready access. The Judges have objectively used their commonsense and come to a conclusion that was open to the authorities from the beginning. However, there may sometimes be decisions that call for expertise not available within the Bench. In such cases, it would be prudent to use judicial authority to direct the relevant experts to arrive at the optimum solution, without expressing a direct option.

 Why did the Executive make way for the result to be sealed with judicial authority in order to enable its implementation? It would be a sad day for the country, if it had to bear the cost and delay of litigation to get its administrative machinery to play its normal role. That predicament is nothing new.

It started during the time of former Chief Justice Sarath. N. Silva. Why did it become necessary to use the judicial arm of the government to push start its administrative machinery?

 Haste made waste

The answer lies in the dictatorial nature of our constitution. It has concentrated all executive power in the president in a way that there was no progress in a situation where the president fails to act or acts wrongly, except by way of recourse to the judiciary, that too, if the latter was not constrained by other draconian provisions of the constitution. In the present case, trouble started due to the undue haste to announce the selectees, along with the release of the results.

The government wanted to be one-up on the deal. Imaginably, it was a puerile, hasty step never tried before. Normally, results were announced first: Re-correction was allowed next and the results were announced weeks later, after working out the Z-scores leisurely. This time the situation was more complicated with the selections based on two parallel lists of candidates. In the ultimate analysis, the haste to jump over a few weeks made a waste of several months.

Whose fault?

The jubilant protesters now want the two ministers concerned to resign. They may have forgotten the news story prevalent at the time the results were released, that there were orders to release the results before the end of that week. The ministers bent over backwards to obey orders by engaging their fatigued staff to work overnight. That led to errors in calculations, in addition to the failure to make a cool, calculated decision after due consultations on merging the two lists. The resignations of the ministers may serve to pay off personal scores, but they would not cure the inherent maladies of the system. Perhaps the two ministers may make themselves more acceptable if they put themselves sincerely under a vow of silence. Apart from that, the prevailing system may not allow a difference, even with others in their places.

Further, the call to resign is based on the theory of ministerial responsibility. But is it fair to insist on it, in a system that does not guarantee minimum efficiency of ministerial staff? The Minister of Education has come up with several progressive proposals like the thousand super schools and revision of curricula, but he does not appear to have the administrative support to carry them through. Ministerial responsibility has to be coupled with management support.

Executive appointments

I have had occasion to personally observe how clumsily the Education Ministry worked. The setup has been recently shaken up by the appointment of a new secretary. But it appears that the policy of appointing the most senior officers of the SLAS has to be reviewed, in the light of expanding vistas of expertise. The UK, from which we copied the practice, has long ago taken action to mix administrators and technocrats as heads of their ministries, according to the workloads of the institutions. This tendency need not worry the SLAS overmuch. There are many other similar or even higher positions like Provincial Governors, in which its members could be placed appropriately with their expertise, yielding greater benefits to the country.

Education, with its ever advancing technology may function better under an eminent educationist. But paper qualifications alone do not appear to help, as the controversies at the Ministry of Higher Education may disclose. Subject competence needs to be matched with management ability, tact, sagacity and aptitude at the level of secretary. As the choice of its secretary has a dominant impact on the success of a ministry, it would be wise to give up the present practice of choosing secretaries on an ad hoc basis, depending on face value, seniority and favour. It would be in the national interest to set up a competent panel of advisers to pick out and train suitable men and women cut out for the job of secretary. In England, this function is discharged by the Commissioner for Public Appointments and the Civil Service Commissioners. Independent evaluation is all the more relevant in a setup where the selection of secretaries and similar high posts, does not come under the PSC.

Another shortcoming of our constitution is that it stifles initiative. Ministers tend to initiate action only on their pet proposals. They do not look out for matters surfacing elsewhere, where they could make positive contributions, independently. They await orders for action. That is a natural outcome of the subservient mindset created by the omnipotent presidency. For example, some constructive proposals made by the LLRC are such, that they could be easily implemented by concerned ministries, on their own. But they do not move a finger until they are directed to do so. In the meantime, all these matters get clogged up at the top and much time is lost in the process of sorting them out and referring them for action downstairs. The end result is delay and tardiness in catering to the needs of the public.

Preview of executive action

Yet another danger inherent in an all powerful Presidency is the absence of effective review of decisions made at the top. Ministers are reluctant to speak out even when they disagree with the President for fear of losing favour or even their jobs. This results in blind implementation of un-scrutinized whims and fancies without more, as in the Z-score case. As the system does not let itself to proper collective review by the Cabinet, it would be wise for the President to act only after the relevant proposal had been tested and found feasible by an advisory body.

It is true that the president already has a galaxy of advisors, but they too appear to be inhibited by personal reasons in playing their role effectively. The Queen of England acts only on advice. Her advice comes from the all powerful Cabinet of Ministers. Under our constitution, the cabinet does not enjoy that kind of independence and initiative. In the circumstance, it would be in his own interests for the president also to make up his mind to act only on advice, and if the advisers are not ‘yes men’ seeking to feather their own nests, the need to resort to the judiciary for redress against executive action, is bound to be minimized.

Appointing counselors for the ruler is not a novel idea. It has its origins in the ‘Purohitas’ of yore. A king was appointed for hereditary reasons and there was no guarantee that he had the wisdom to rule faultlessly. The institution of ‘Purohita’ was devised to meet that contingency. The best brains in the land were selected for the post and history and folklore are full of instances where kings ruled righteously for long years under the advice of their ‘Purohitas’.

The ‘Ummagga Jatakaya’ refers to King Videha taking counsel. Videha had five counselors, but even at that time, four of them were time-seeking sycophants, whose folly got the king into trouble. His life was saved thanks to the genius of his youngest counselor, Mahausada. In ‘Kekille’, folklore portrays the folly of a king who acts impulsively at the spur of the moment, without consultation.

A Panel of ‘Purohitas’

Under democracy, rulers are elected more for their public appeal than for their brains. They too need reliable counselors to keep them in power. That need appears to be getting more and more urgent at present under the developing political climate. At long last the opposition appears to be getting its act together. Public protests are on the increase, with students and trade unions coming out readily to register their grievances. The cost of living is rising steeply, and even the elements appear to be on a war path. Economic recession is fast spreading its tentacles.

This situation may not improve with time. The chances are that it may go from bad to worse. A realistic appreciation of this trend should lead to prompt stocktaking and have in place precautionary preventive measures. That calls for meticulous circumspection and preview in governance. That is where an advisory ‘Think Tank’ may help to steer the government out of trouble. The wishful advice of circles of affinity in such a situation may be reassuring, but rarely dependable. What is called for is a Panel of ’ to preview decisions before they are passed down for implementation, for as it is, the system has no mechanism to check and balance them thereafter.

Let not the ‘Purohitas’ be another hired set of card-carrying VIPs. They should be an informal panel of dependable volunteers, who would be consulted confidentially as and when necessary. The greatest beneficiary of this evaluation would be the president himself, as it would guarantee the quality and the accuracy of his decisions, leaving little room for judicial intervention or political loss.

Somapala Gunadheera

Prof. Thattil heads govt. ‘Z-score’ committee

July 5, 2012, 7:09 am 

By Saman Indrajith, the island

Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayaka told Parliament yesterday that a three-member expert committee headed by Prof. R. O. Thattil, of the University of Peradeniya, had been appointed to advise the University Grants Commission (UGC) on how to implement the Supreme Court directive on the calculation of the Z score. The minister said Vice Chancellor of the Peradeniya University, Prof A. Epasinghe was another member of the committee. The third member wasn’t named.

 "The UGC is working expeditiously to implement the Court’s directive and I can assure you that university admission will begin without delay once this matter is sorted out," the Minister said in response to a statement made by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The Supreme Court last week ordered that the Z-score be calculated separately for students who sat the GCE (A/L) examination under the new and old syllabi in 2011.

The Opposition Leader in his statement welcomed the Supreme Court ruling.

The ruling given by the Supreme Court for rectifying injustices caused to the children owing to separate Z score calculations for the two syllabi should be appreciated. It had opened an opportunity to rectify the injustices caused by the government, Ministers and those who are responsible," Wickremesinghe said, requesting the government to take immediate action to adopt measures to prevent injustice being caused to any students who had been selected to the university as a result of the erroneous Z-Score.

Expert Comm. appointed to advise UGC on ‘Z-score’ - SB

July 4, 2012, 12:00 pm 

By Saman Indrajith, the island

Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissnayaka told Parliament yesterday that a three-member expert committee had been appointed to advise the University Grants Commission (UGC) on how to implement the directive of the Supreme Court on the calculation of the Z score.

"The UGC is working expeditiously to implement the Court’s directive and I can assure your that university admission will begin without delay once this  matter is sorted out," the Minister said in response to a statement made by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The Supreme Court last week ordered that the Z-score be calculated separately for students who sat for the GCE (A/L) examination under the new and old syllabi in 2011.

The Opposition Leader in his statement welcomed the Supreme Court ruling.

"The ruling given by the Supreme Court for rectifying the injustice caused to the children through separate Z score calculations for the two syllabi should be appreciated. It has opened an opportunity to rectify the injustices caused by the Government, Ministers and those who are responsible," Wickremesinghe said.

He noted that now another group of students were undergoing injustices due to the conceited and baseless measures followed by the Government and Ministers, i. e. the students who qualified for admission to the universities through those erroneous Z-score calculations.

He requested the government to take immediate action to introduce measures which would cause no injustice to any students who had been selected to the university as a result of the erroneous Z-Score.

My life in danger – FUTA Chief

July 4, 2012, 12:00 pm 

by Dasun Edirisinghe, the island

President of the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri yesterday said that his life was in danger as the threats against him were continuing.

Commenting on university teachers’ strike which commenced yesterday, Dr. Devasiri told The Island that it had been launched as the government had failed to solve teachers’ problems.

He said that he had received a second telephone call on Tuesday threatening him to stop the strike.

"Lives of wife and daughter are also in danger," Dr. Devasiri said.

He said that he had received threatening calls on June 22 and July 03 and the unidentified callers had threatened to harm not only him but also his wife and daughter.

Some suspicious looking persons had questioned the neighbours on his daughter’s daily routine on June 19, the FUTAchief said.

Dr. Devasiri said that he had complained to the Maharagama and Cinnamon Gardens police on each occasion. "We will launch a signature campaign against the government’s delay in granting our demands."

The main FUTA demands are allocation of 6 per cent of GDP for the education sector, engagement of university teachers in the process of making decisions involving the higher education sector and a pay hike.

He said that teachers from all universities except Kelaniya, Uva Wellassa and the Medical Faculties, had joined the strike.

However, the Faculty of Medicine Teachers’ Association of the Colombo University (FMTA) said it fully endorsed the FUTA demands, which it said should be met by the government.

FMTA President Dr. N. D. N. A. Mendis said that as the students had already been affected by recent trade union action launched by the non-academic staff, the FMTA was at present not planning to join the FUTA strike.

"But, we will join the strike if the authorities do not take steps to redress the legitimate grievances of the FUTA immediately," Dr. Mendis said.

Meanwhile, the Inter University Students’ Federation condemned the threats made to FUTA President Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri.

Turmoil in the ‘Knowledge Hub’

July 3, 2012, 7:41 pm , the island

By Dr. Laksiri Fernando

There is an impending confrontation between the university academics and the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) as the media spokesman for the Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA), Dr Devaka Weerakoon, has very clearly stated that they would go ahead with their continuous strike action on 4th July as their main demands are not only about salaries but primarily on funding for the university education.

The FUTA is asking the government to commit towards six per cent of the GDP for higher education, which is the UNESCO benchmark, as the present contribution is abysmally low as 0.4 per cent, one of the lowest in the world. This increase can be gradual, if the government can promise a substantial increase in the future, otherwise the whole system might collapse. Out of the annual budgetary expenditure, allocation for higher education is only around 1.5 per cent, whereas the expenditure on security is almost ten times.

If the present trends continue, Sri Lanka might become a military hub, but not a knowledge hub.

There is already a knowledge hub in Sri Lanka and that is the university system. Before making Sri Lanka a knowledge hub in Asia or in the ‘whole world,’ this existing knowledge hub should be properly maintained and managed or otherwise the whole wheel of education might collapse. There are indications that the collapse has already started. No one is against the government having lofty ambitions in any of the five hubs declared. But action should match the ambitions, and ambitions should be realistic. Mere rhetoric is not sufficient.

Contradictory Statements

There are three contradictory statements issued by the higher education authorities last week on the demands of the academics, particularly on the salary issue, and their intention to strike action. The first was ostensibly a modest appeal by the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Directors (CVCD), among other things, stating that "the academics have recently received substantial increases in remuneration and other benefits" without spelling out what they were and when they were granted (Colombo Page, 27 June 2012).

Then came a statement by the Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) saying that "the salaries of the university academic staff will be increased by over 70 per cent with effect from October 1" (Daily News, 28 June 2012) to mean the next October.

Now there is a new statement by the Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education, quoting the same figures as the UGC Chairman, but claiming that salaries of academics were increased in 2011! (Colombo Page, 30 June 2012). It is also possible that some of the media are also confused as to what the authorities actually state about matters because it is difficult to separate fact from fiction.

The following is what the FUTA says on the salary issue: "The UGC erroneously cites a few increases in allowances as salary increases and includes a research grant, which is given only until the end of this year, as a ‘salary’ increase. Further, even with the addition of these allowances to the basic salary, the current salary structure comes nowhere near the recommendations made by the Jiffry-Malik Ranasinghe committee appointed by the UGC in 2008."

Even if the UGC and the Ministry statements are to be believed, there are intriguing questions arising out of the salary issue. The junior and young academics are completely discriminated and overlooked under the UGC proposed formula. A senior professor will get a 74 percent increase; a senior lecturer 58 percent; and a probationary lecturer only 36 percent. While this can be a complete canard to hoodwink the public and divide the academic community, FUTA argues that all these are proposed allowances, with strings attached, and never to be implemented, judging from the past experiences. Whether this is true or not, what is apparent is the breakdown of trust between the academics and the Ministry of Higher Education.

What FUTA has clearly asked is an increase of 20 percent of the basic salary of all grades of university academics; and not 74 percent for some and 36 percent for others. In addition they have asked for the establishment of a Sri Lanka University Academic Service and the immediate suspension of university reforms now going on without proper consultation with the stakeholders and primarily the academics. They also demand a clear government policy on the ‘free education system’ and ask for the increase of public funding for universities up to 6 percent of the GDP as mentioned before.

Personal Agendas

After relating credible information regarding duplicitous actions on the part of the MoHE during various negotiations, FUTA accuses the Ministry and the government of personal agendas quite detrimental to academic freedom and wellbeing of higher education in the country as follows.

"The Ministry has withheld funds allocated to universities, and circumvented university procedures to pay for activities. The only explanation we can proffer for such blatant disregard is that the MoHE was fulfiling some personal agendas of persons in the government through these measures. The government has interfered in the areas of curriculum, the nature of student intake and in staff hires."

Personal agendas of the Ministry were quite obvious to the present author before his retirement in late 2010. If I may relate one or two, I was the Director of the National Centre for Advanced Studies (NCAS) under the university system instituted through a Parliamentary Ordinance when the present Minister, S. B. Dissanayake, assumed duties. He wanted me to resign from that position just two months before my term ended, quite unashamedly, without giving any reason which I refused very strongly.

The message was sent through a ‘certain lady’ and conveyed to me by the UGC Chairman as a message. Obviously, the Minister could not do anything to remove me as my appointment was done by the UGC through due process. After my retirement, although I had made all arrangements to recruit a successor, through public advertisement, the Minister somehow appointed a person who is apparently his uncle! I have no objection to the person, but the procedure was quite illegitimate.

During the period of the former Minister, activities of the NCAS were conducted without undue influence of the Minister although he was the Chair of the Council of Regents on policy matters. The administrative matters were handled by the Director who was also the Chair of the Council of Management with the consultation of the Council. While the previous Minister did not at all interfere with my administrative duties, the present Minister was a continuous nuisance to say the least, which I largely disregarded.

Reasons Behind

There are some observers who attribute rather the erratic behaviour of the Minister towards the academics to his inferior educational background although he is a university graduate. It is possible that he was appointed to the position to handle the student situation since he was a former student leader. His tactics in fact were akin to a student leader who organized, after becoming the Minister, rival factions within universities and even went to the extent of giving paramilitary training to selected government supporters reminiscent of the tactics used by the military junta in Burma before 2010. There was credible information before I left that even he was interfering with the student lists selected for university admissions.

When he assumed duties as the Minister in May 2010 he in fact stated in Parliament that a university professor should be paid Rs 200,000. He is the very person who set the salary ball rolling perhaps initially to curry favour with the academics. Then the relations became sour when some of his own plans were not realistic or proved to be hollow rhetoric. He wanted to produce students, as he said, ‘who could see beyond the horizon.’ The University of Colombo joke says that then the students started to go to the beach every evening!

His vision in the ministry is "to be the most cost-effective higher education in Asia" (see the website). Therefore, he is in fact ‘logical’ to get the lowest budgetary (1.5 percent) and GDP (0.4 percent) allocation to higher education compared to all other Asian countries. In comparison to 2005 he has in fact cut down the allocations to the universities. Even from the allocated funds, he is accused of running different programmes at the Ministry spending colossal amounts of money.

He first went against the students, and then against the non-academic staff, and now he is bracing his fists against the academics. He is in fact capable of doing something nasty as he is a person who even accused the Supreme Court of its ‘Balu Teendu.’

However, the reasons cannot simply be personally specific to the Minister or the Ministry. He is only a cog in the entire Rajapaksa machinery. Mismanagement in the educational sector had some previous roots, but has reached catastrophic proportions since recently. The entire university admissions are in a mess due to the z-score fiasco. Even after the Supreme Court decision, the system is not proceeding forward due to an apparent tug of war between the UGC and the Department of Examinations. What is apparent is the breakdown of confidence in the entire examination system. Almost half of the candidates who sat for the advanced level examination last year had asked for re-corrections and 2,725 have in fact managed to get their results upgraded. This is not a small number of errors.

There are some who argue that the proposed university academic trade union action on the 4th July is unethical. Under normal circumstances it might be the case that university dons should not refrain from teaching or other duties. But these are unusual circumstances that require unusual measures. Without firm action on the part of the academics, the duplicity of the government and the Ministry of Higher Education might not come to a halt. The most outrageous are the ways that the defense authorities tried to intervene in the situation by threatening the President of the FUTA, Dr Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri. This alone is a reason for the university academics to protest and show the government that there are sections in society that could not be silenced through intimidation or harassment.

University teachers launch strike today

FUTA chief threatened again

July 3, 2012, 9:41 pm 

by Dasun Edirisinghe, the island

University teachers will launch an indefinite strike today as their talks with the Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga have failed.

Yesterday’s discussion chaired by Weeratunga was held at the Presidential Secretariat with the participation of members of the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA), Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake, Secretary to Ministry of Higher Education Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne, University Grants Commission Chairman Prof. Gamini Samaranayake and Treasury officials.

The next round of discussion has been scheduled for July 12 at the same venue.

FUTA President Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri told The Island that government had failed to present a viable solution last night. "Therefore, we have been left with no alternative but to go ahead with our scheduled strike."

University teachers resorted to trade union action to pressure the government to rectify their salary anomalies on March 15 last year. They vacated the volunteer posts they held in protest, but suspended the trade union action on a government assurance that their salary anomalies problem would be rectified through this year’s Budget. But, FUTA says the government has reneged on its promise.

FUTA resumed its trade union action with two new demands—allocation of 6% of GDP for the education sector and engagement of university teachers in the process of making decisions on the higher education sector.

Dr. Devasiri said that the Higher Education Ministry and the University Grants Commission had earlier promised to solve their salary problem in three stages but that promise too had not been honoured.

Higher Education Secretary Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne told The Island last night that FUTA had submitted its proposals at yesterday’s meeting and the government needed some time to study them.

Meanwhile, FUTA President Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri told The Island last night that an unidentified person had threatened him over the telephone to stop the FUTA strike or face the consequences.

He said he would make a formal complaint the Cinnamon Garden Police station of the threatening call shortly.