The Colombo government is taking steps to bring the Siddha Medical Faculty now under the Trincomalee campus of the Eastern University with the University of Colombo. Academics in the East blame the move as a design of cultural genocide by Colombo that seeks to undermine the traditional medical science of the Tamil country.
The transfer of the Faculty to Colombo will be affecting the education in the eastern province, complains R.Thurairatnam, a member of the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) in a memorandum sent to SL Minister of Higher Education.
Mr.Thurairatnam has appealed to the Higher Education Minister not to interfere in the EUSL administration for political gains and to serve the people of Eastern province without affecting their education.
58 students are now undergoing a three-year course in the Siddha Medical Faculty at the Trincomalee campus of the Eastern University.
The University Grant Commission has allocated funds to enroll 20 students every year for this course.
The EUSL administration is now led by a Competent Authority, a Sinhala person, who receives instructions from Colombo overriding the authority of the EUSL's Vice Chancellor, who is a Tamil.
TN
