Towards hi-technology parallel with tradition

It is not incorrect if we say that the images of graduates are stained than the past. It may be partly due to policies of the universities and attitudes. The content that was taught, curricula, at traditional universities did not changed according to the requirement of the country and even it is changed at the face, lecturers taught the same thing as they had done in the past. Though the graduates fought for many physical things, it was very rare for the fighting for new concepts such as independent learning because it is an extra burden than present methods of studying. Yet there are groups in the newly established universities, who try to break the barriers and improve themselves influencing the stagnant system.

We found a young lecturer and a team of students who are trying to improve themselves by doing various activities related to their discipline. Mr. Dhanesh Liyanage who lectures on post-harvest technology at the Department of Food Science and Technology of Wayamba University said that they are going towards the hi-technology parallel with the years of Sri Lankan tradition. They are not going to implement the whole thing that is fabricated in the western world to achieve their local requirements. Instead of that they extract the value and modify according to their requirements.

As we know, rice is our staple food and 90% of the world's requirement is produced in Asia, Mr. Liyanage has shared some of the interesting things that they have done during the studies. Though the rice is our staple food, there are agriculture and agriculture-related graduates who passed out from Sri Lankan Universities without even going to a paddy field during their undergraduate period. In such situations we should not blame the new generation for deviating from agriculture.

As the slogan of the course module we use "It is much economical to save what is already produced." Under this course module we study the methods of reducing the post-harvest losses of cereals, fruits and vegetable, develop new technologies to minimise the losses, train the undergraduates to help farmers and processors in problematic situations. Though the cultivation is not the scope of our subject area, we always keep in mind that quality product comes from the proper pre-harvesting practices. So, we allowed our undergraduates to a number of activities to get the experience of paddy sector, though they are not agriculture graduates. We have leased out a paddy cultivated land for the current value and practised all the activities from harvesting onwards. At the harvesting, it was a nice to see, students wearing "Marlboro" hats and "Nike" jeans, but in a Sri Lankan paddy field.

Before they come into action, an elderly person introduced the years old tradition, the vocabulary of the paddy field. By worshipping the field and the sickle, students started their war. After harvesting, they practised different methods of paddy drying, paddy collection, different ways of paddy threshing including animal threshing, winnowing and paddy storage. To complete the practical schedule students practiced the household paddy processing methods; visited a medium scale paddy processor; Nipuna Paddy Mill in Polonnaruwa (large scale processor) and the Institute of Post-harvest Technology (Anuradhapura) to see the latest development in post-harvest technology.

Few of the students also shared their views regarding the practical exposure. Chalinda Pathira who follows the course has the following view: "Learning and understanding are two different phenomena, yet having some inter-dependencies. And the understanding demands more, for effort and skills. Education without understanding of its application is nothing but a waste of time, effort and resources.

The Sri Lanka university education often takes the blame for concentrating less on the application component.

Theory from books alone will not support this aspect in full capacity. It is told that learning from hands on experiences are far effective than learning form books.

I do have a strong evidence to prove this statement; quite an experience I had in a paddy field related to the module 'Post-harvest Technology of Cereals, Fruits & Vegetables' offered by the Department of Food Science and Technology of Wayamba University of Sri Lanka". Sanduni is so positive of the practical schedules done at Wayamba University.

"The practical session we had in a paddy field taking an entire day was quite an eye opener to the real practices and conditions taking place in a paddy field. It was worth spending the day under the burning sun as such an exposure would never be obtained in the comfort of a lecture room. Reaping, drying, threshing and winnowing were entirely done by us.

A number of different traditional and modern practices could be experimented regarding drying, threshing and winnowing to get an idea of their inherited advantages and disadvantages.

It gave the opportunity to closely examine the typical changes an individual grain undergoes in these processes what an ordinary farmer would never take the pain to see. We could understand that most of the causes of the quality deterioration of paddy in the latter stages of processing are related to the malpractices at these initial phases.

Though not related directed to the subject, it was clear the hard work and epecially the team work required for paddy cultivation. This could have been another reason behind the evolution of the rich culture of ours and its values"

The group did not forget to show their gratitude to their Head of the Department, Dean, Bursar, Vice Chancellor who are ever encouraging the good work, Mr. Lal Senaratne (medium scale paddy processor), Director IPHT and Minister Siripala Gamlath who helped in number of ways making the practical schedule success.