Sri lanka: Rajarata Uni student's sathyagraha hut burnt for the third time

The temporary hut that sheltered Rajarata University student protesters was burnt for the third time early this morning. Rajarata University Students Federation member Lasantha Priyankara said a group of men came in a van and hurled a bottle of petrel to blaze the hut. However, students staying inside the hut at the time of the incident have not been injured by the blaze. The Student Sathyagraha which has demanded the university authorities to lift the class suspension on 28 students would complete 213 days today.

Sri Lanka under-investing in education: World Bank

(Photo:Tableaux of Aufidius)

"In several World Bank reports we have pointed out that Sri Lanka under invests in education. Sri Lanka's investment in education as percentage of GDP is one of the lowest in the region and in the world in terms of middle income countries." "Each country has to decide what percentage of the government budget should be invested in education and what percentage of national income would be invested in education; so we don't have an idea about what proportion of GDP should be invested in education."

Sri Lanka heading for military administration ;424 education officers too given military training

424 candidates who passed the education administration examination and were enrolled in the administrative service are being given military training at the Rantembe camp under the guise of ‘leadership training,’ Joseph Stalin , the secretary of the Lanka Teachers union revealed.

FUTA threatens strike unless govt. stops harassing lecturers

University invaded

‘Names of dons who spoke against Deyata Kirula at Senate meeting were leaked to thugs’
The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) yesterday asked the government to stop harassing its members following a recent goon attack on the Ruhuna University students or face a countrywide strike. Addressing a media conference at the Faculty Club of the Colombo University, FUTA President Chandragupta Thenuwara said that the government sponsored thugs had attacked the vehicle of a lecturer of the Ruhuna University during the protest on Monday, demanding that Deyata Kirula exhibition be held within the university premises.

Death threats to Ruhuna University lecturers

Thugs led by MP Jayasuriya

University teachers question as to whether S.B. Dissanayake is the minister in charge of higher education, or if not livestock or terrorism affairs.Their association FUTA, at a media briefing in Colombo today (06), charged the government of being behind death threats received by lecturers of Ruhunu University after they condemned an attack on students of the university.President of the association Dr. Chandragupta Thenuwara said they strongly protested the higher education minister’s having called lecturers and students by names of various animals.

Sri Lanka: 1,500 undergraduates suspended since 2010

Uni students' protest   ( photo: demotix)

Over 1,500 undergraduates have been suspended up to date since 2010, with more undergraduates being imprisoned, harassed and abducted in an ever increasing rise in student suppression, student activists said.
 Addressing the media last evening (4), the Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) alleged that over 1,500 students have been banned from their respective universities, 76 have been imprisoned, three have been abducted and three have been killed. The IUSF Convener also charged government affiliated politicians of stirring unrest between undergraduates and villagers, citing the discord which resulted in the closure of the Ruhuna University earlier this week.

Sri Lanka: Master Blaster Sanath Jayasuriya rips open students’ heads – JVP

Tilvyn Silva showing evidence

The government closes universities to hold carnivals, while the master blaster has become a thug leader ripping open students’ heads, said JVP secretary Tilvyn Silva. Speaking to the media in Colombo today (03), Mr. Silva condemned the attack on the previous day on Ruhuna University students by government thugs led by Sanath Jayasuriya. After digging his own grave, Mervyn Silva is now keeping silent, while his role has been taken over by Sanath Jaysuriya who is trying to dig graves for the students, said the JVP secretary.

Former cricketer, ruling party MP Sanath Jayasuriya's thugs attack Ruhuna Uni students

Jayasuriya leading  the unruly crowd

A group of thugs of politicians who stormed into the University of Ruhuna at around 2.00 pm  on June 02 have allegedly attacked a group of students and threatened lecturers. A group of nearly 300 of parliamentarian Sanath Jayasuriya, Provincial Council Minister D.V Upul and Aruna Gunaratne have thus been involved in the attack, reports say. As the thugs chased the students they have hidden in safe locations. Some thugs, who claimed that the students did not allow the Deyata Kirula National Exhibition to be held in the university premises, have possessed clubs and battens.

Sri Lanka: Friday Forum lists issues that are of critical importance in Northern Province

Education: One of the most important issue

 ''The integrity and commitment of Chief Minister Wigneswaran to work for the good of the people of the Northern Province, and indeed all of us in Sri Lanka, as well as his commitment to work towards post-war reconstruction and reconciliation in a united Sri Lanka that respects diversity and the rights of citizens of all communities, are, we feel, commendable. The delegation was struck by the re-iteration of the assurance given by the Chief Minister to direct his energies to a people-centred sustainable development of the Province, while safeguarding and ensuring the rule of law, justice and human security.''

Post-war realities in the Northern Province;  Visit to Jaffna by Friday Forum delegation

Army conducts workshop for Kilinochchi schoolchildren

                           (Photo: Army.lk)

The Sri Lankan Army held a workshop for schoolchildren in Kilinochchi on Saturday, to “enlighten students” on telecommunication, according to their website.

Troops from the 9 Sri Lanka Signal Corps organised the event, which was attended by senior military commanders, including Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe, Commander of the Sri Lankan Security Forces in Kilinochchi.

Sri Lanka: AHS undergraduate activists assaulted in custody and hospitalised; Academics condemn.

A student leader assaulted  in custody

Of the 17 student activists arrested on Friday, four were admitted to the Accident Ward in the National Hospital yesterday, after sustaining injuries while in police custody.

However, the activists claim that two of the more seriously injured students have not been hospitalised despite pleas, a claim denied by the police. The Student Unions claim that the 13 students were brutally beaten by the police while in custody. The students were arrested at two different locations on Friday.

Sri Lanka: 17 Allied science students leaders arrested

Four Allied Science Student leaders arrested

Four activists of Allied Health Science Faculty students’ Union were arrested during the mass agitation held opposite University Grants Commission today (16th) against the move to reduce the period of the Allied Health Science degree to three years.

The President of the Peradeniya Students’ Council, the President and Vice President of Allied Health Science faculty at Peradeniya University and the President of the Allied Health Science Faculty of Ruhuna University are the student activists who have been arrested and are being detained in Kirulapone Police Station.

Government attempt to arrest student activists who participated in the protest march organized by the IUSF

A protest march from University Grant’s Commission to the Temple Trees, headed by the Inter University Students’ Federation was held on 7th May 2014 with the participation of thousands of students. The protest demanded for the reinstatement of the four year Allied Health Sciences degree and dropping the unjust suspensions against 27 student activists of University of Rajarata. It is reported that preparations are being made to arrest the student leaders who headed this protest.

Sri Lanka : Military scouring schools up North

General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) Joseph Stalin accused Army is collecting data of school children, teachers and principals in the North.

Stalin said the process had been carried out by the Army throughout the recent past and it had instilled fear in the hearts of the school children, teachers, principals and parents.

CPA/SI Survey on Democracy in Post-War Sri Lanka: Summary of Findings

• Given the opportunity to allocate money from the National Budget to sectors of their choice, people would choose Education, Health and Agriculture.
• Around 82% of Sri Lankans say that the general security situation in the country has changed for the better over the last two years, with 42.8% stating that it has got a lot better.
•  Only 32.3% of Sri Lankans have heard of the LLRC.
• 70% say that Sinhala is the only official language of Sri Lanka.
  • 40.3% of Sri Lankans stated that they have a great deal of trust in the Army while 46.1% said that they have some trust.
• 42.5% believe that the media in Sri Lanka is completely free to criticise the Government while 25% disagree.
• 96.3% of Sri Lankans believe that they are free to practice their religion in their community. 

Cost of short new expressway is more than budgetary allocation for Education, Agriculture, Higher Education, Power and Energy, Environment, ,Social Services +++

Children of a Lesser God by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“…justice by its very nature has to have a universal reach, rather than being applicable to the problems and predicaments of some people but not of others”.

Amartya Sen (The Idea of Justice)

Rs.1.8 billion was spent on building one kilometre of the Katunayake-Colombo expressway.

That was more than the 2014 Budgetary allocation for Child Development and Women’s Affairs (Rs.1.24 billion), Culture and Arts (Rs.1.48 billion), Telecommunication and Industrialisation Technology (Rs.0.957 billion), Wildlife Resources and Conservation (Rs.1.31 billion), National Heritage (Rs.1.26 billion) or Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare (Rs.0.58 billion).

Defence swallows UDA, substitutes for jobless growth: think tank

Allocations for education, healthcare see no growth

The country is pushing ahead for ‘jobless growth’ with allocations to Defence in the 2013 budget growing significantly, and although the Urban Development Authority (UDA) functions under the Ministry of Defence, its share of the allocation is less than 5 percent, while education and healthcare do not see much improvement in allocations.

4,000 more principals to get military titles : more concerns over the militarization.

Some 4,000 school principals have been called for interviews at the Cadet Corps Headquarters next week to be awarded military titles, raising more concerns over the militarization of more than 50 per cent of the schools in the country.

Where is the national education policy every govt. since 1990 promised?

Eric J. de Silva (Former Secretary, Ministry of Education)

Every government that we have had since the Youth Commission of 1990 has acknowledged the need for us to have a National Education Policy which does not change with every change of government or administration. Despite setting up the machinery for the purpose under the National Education Commission Act of 1991, we were not able to prepare a comprehensive policy document that could form the basis for such a policy even until the end of 1996. In sheer desperation, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga appointed a Task Force in December 1996 under the chairmanship of the then Education Minister, Richard Pathirana, to prepare a set of proposals which her government could start implementing immediately to be able to meet challenges of the day. This the Task Force delivered within the brief period of three months given to it.

If we fail with regard to education, we will not be able to avoid disaster

''Mr Speaker, the emphasis throughout His Excellency’s Budget Speech on education and training makes clear the importance this government attaches to the subject. I am aware however that, in some areas, excellent ideas are not implemented, sometimes because of a lack of will, sometimes because of a lack of capacity. As we saw in Welikada a couple of weeks ago, the penalty of such neglect can sometimes be disastrous. ''
(The Prepared Speech on Education that was not Delivered in Parliament)
 Prof.Rajiva Wijesinha