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| Sunday, 10 November 2002 |
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Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 1 429239 / 331181 Fax : 94 1 429230 Slaughterhouse The Vice Chancellor of the University of Sri Jayawardhanapura, in the traumatic aftermath of the killing of one of his students who bravely criticised ragging, has described his own campus as "a place of butchery" or a slaughterhouse. Details of the tragedy on the campus last week are reported in today's edition. The Vice Chancellor has good reason for his angry remark. After all, not only must he and the university faculty tolerate the annual brutalities that go by the name of 'ragging', but they must also deal with the tragic and disruptive outcome: deaths of injured 'fresher' students, post-ragging trauma, and, to cap it all, the gross intimidation of those students and faculty who criticise the crudity of the ragging and intellectually question its very practise. Even if ragging may be theoretically justified as a ritual of welcome and socialisation, its actual practice in the state-owned institutions of higher learning in this country has, over the last several decades, become a phenomenon more feared than enjoyed. Hardly a year goes by without a report of some crudity perpetrated in the name of 'ragging' or, worse, tragic result. Twenty three-year-old Samantha is not the first to suffer death in connection with ragging. In the past decades, several students have died directly as a result of ragging. To Samantha goes the honour of death while taking a principled position opposed to the ritual. In that sense Samantha has reached the very peak of intellectual achievement: the brave practise of the noble ideals he has imbibed even at the risk of his life. The nation, while mourning both his death and the cruel state of affairs that caused it, must also cherish the spiritual strength that his final actions exemplify. On the other hand, Samantha's killers exemplify the terrifying depths to which the life of our academic community, so-called, has sunk. More specifically, Sri Lankan society must look closely at the institutions officially described as 'universities' and assess what has gone wrong these past several decades as the quality of learning deteriorated and the quantum of violence, indiscipline and intellectual mediocrity has arisen to a degree that it is in these 'halls of academe' that subversion and insurgency germinate, and those who enter must first undergo degrading rituals as 'welcoming' ceremonies. The question that must also be asked is: do our universities actually produce our intellectual elite or, is the real elite produced elsewhere and the universities are left, grossly neglected and scorned, as the place where the indigent hoi polloi get graduation certificates of little educational or professional value? Budget The annual Government Budget no longer bears the same social significance that it did in past decades. That is because the national economy as well as State economic planning is such today that it is not the Government that takes all action in relation to the economy and in relation to the people's socio-economic condition. With the consolidation of free market capitalism in the context of a global economy, the country's business community's actions and decisions now also have a bearing on the national economy as well as the population. That is why the annual Budget this year may seem a 'damp squib' to some. But those who are aware of the indirect role State economic policy plays in creating the environment necessary for private sector dynamism will be appreciative of the careful measures being taken by Mr. Choksy and his officials of the Treasury in painstakingly placing the national economy on a firm footing. Most important, however, is the historic coincidence of sudden positive developments in the peace process with the presenting of the 2003 Budget. Now, truly, the efforts at economic consolidation as proposed in the Budget strike a clear note of realism in the happy context of a receding war. In that sense, last week's Budget may be called the first pragmatic steps at post-war recovery. |
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