Problems of the university system in Sri Lanka

by Professor Wiswa

Warnapala

(A text of a speech delivered by Professor Warnapala, Minister of Higher Education at the Workshop on Quality Related Issues in Higher Education in Sri Lanka organized by the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Directors (CVCD)).

The University College, established in 1921, came on the scene as an immediate response to the demands of the then colonial elite who wanted an institution of higher education. Prof. Ralph Pieris once stated that 'the problems of university education which beset Ceylon today derive in large measure from historical antecedents.'

Though this assertion cannot be totally rejected, it was true that the system of university education, in its initial phase, was determined by vocational and political considerations.

In the early period of the British occupation, the educational policy came to be dependent on the financial resources of the colony, and the creation of a University was not envisaged till the turn of the century.

In other words, the colonial authorities saw the need for such an institution nearly hundred years after the establishment of British rule in the island. The Colombo Academy, which was created in 1853, was affiliated to the University of Calcutta, and this Academy was renamed Royal College in 1881, which began preparing students for examination for London University external degrees.

It was during this period that several Colleges came to be established by the Christian Missionaries in the country, and it was through those Colleges that students were provided with opportunities to sit the London University examinations.

In the 1880's, the ambitious youths, who were interested in higher educational qualifications were able to obtain a university degree without ever stepping inside a University.

Though the system of education expanded in the 19th Century, the English educated Ceylonese remained a very small minority, and in 1901 the number of people literate in English was 2 per cent of the population.

The progress in literacy became really important after 1911 when the rate of increase was almost doubled, and this could be attributed to the nationalist and religious revival of the period. Yet the opportunities for English education remained restricted, and this was largely due to the attitude of colonial authorities to the education of the natives.

The policy of the Government was to depend on foreign institutions to meet its needs for higher education; for instance, Medical students were sent to Bengal Medical School in Calcutta.

It was in 1870 that a Medical College was opened as an elementary school for instruction in medicine, surgery and midwifery. In 1874, the Law College was established, and they were the first two institutions in the field of professional education.

Both of these institutions catered to a small elite, and this, in effect, meant that professional education remained the preserve of the privileged classes.

In the sphere of Technical Education, the colonial authorities showed no interest till the establishment of the Colombo Technical College in 1893 and it operated under the Department of Education, and its primary function was to produce skilled personnel for such departments as Railways, Irrigation and Public Works.

It was in this scenario that the need arose for the establishment of a University for the country, which, in the eyes of the local limited elite, had been deliberately delayed by the colonial authorities.

Since the Government showed no interest in the matter, there developed a movement, on the basis of the private indigenous initiative, to clamour for the establishment of a University.

The Buddhist Theosophical Society (BTS), founded in 1880, was for the promotion of Buddhist education and a network of secondary schools came to be established. There was a similar network of schools associated with the initiative of the Christian denominations, which, in fact, meant that the secondary schools were producing a set of students who need to be provided with opportunities for higher education.

In other words, the spread of English schools, though still not widespread throughout the country, had a direct impact on the demand for university education. The Legislative Council, as far back as 1870, began to examine the question of higher education, and recommended affiliation of Colleges to Indian Universities be discontinued; it was emphasized that a connection with the English Universities was necessary as the secondary school education had been firmly established on the British model.

In this period, the number of students in English schools stood at 29000, of whom 4000 students were Burghers. The policy was to confine English schools to the English-speaking children and this restricted the opportunities for education, and the idea of an Anglo-vernacular system of schools came to be discussed as an alternative to the English schools confined to the English-speaking children.

Several important changes were made in the secondary school system, and it now began to produce a set of students who aspired to obtain a higher education. It was in this background that the island's education system came to be reorganized in 1912, and the proposal for the establishment of the University College came to be discussed.

The Committee, which examined the question, gave the following reasons in support of it.

1. Without such an institution there is a serious gap in the educational system of the colony. It is desirable that there should be some more adequate provision for the continued education of those who have reached the age at which they ought to leave school, and that part of such provision should take the form of a residential institution, with proper playing fields and scope for a healthy corporate life.

2. Medical students will benefit largely by being members of such an institution.

3. A University College will provide higher learning for those students in the Government Training Colleges for teachers.

Yet another reason was to discourage the parents who send their sons to England for a university education. It was argued that it would be better to spend a considerable sum of public money in providing a university education for the sons of those parents who are not sufficiently wealthy to send their boys to an English University.

The view was that no parent would want to send their boys to England if a recognized local seat of higher learning was made available in the island. The Executive Council, after a full deliberation on the matter, adopted a resolution under which a University College was to be established with responsibility for higher education in Arts and Science, with preliminary training of medical students in Chemistry, Physics and Biology. No special provision was made for law students.

Yet another recommendation was that the hostel facilities are to be provided by the Government. The view was that the establishment of a University College will give a great stimulus to those who are anxious to obtain a degree without proceeding to England.

The impetus for such changes came from the local professional elite which, by this time, had entered the Legislative Council, and it was they who organized the famous 'University movement', and the Ceylon Reform League, a nationalist organization was in the forefront of this movement which clamoured for the establishment of a university.

The growth of the Civil Service bureaucracy, and the expansion of the professional elite within the Medical and Legal professions stimulated the demand for the establishment of a University, and the elite came to be convinced that British external examinations were no substitute for a university education.

Therefore the Journal of the Ceylon University Association, founded in 1906, advocated the establishment of a University which would help the students to acquire 'culture and independence of thought.'

In other words, they wanted a community of intellectuals interested in our own culture. Yet another important demand of the movement was the development of oriental languages, and it was the emphasis on the need to develop oriental languages which influence both the University College and the University of Ceylon to devote more attention to the study of oriental languages, resulting in the production of a community of renowned scholars in oriental languages.

In fact, the early intellectual enterprise of Sri Lanka came to be dominated by scholars trained in Oriental Languages and Oriental Culture. In addition, the University College, as mentioned earlier was conceived as a residential institution which would revitalize and promote indigenous culture.

Both these ideas, the concept of the residential university and the need to promote indigenous culture, had an effect on the entire system in the past seventy years, which needs further discussion later.

All nationalist organizations of the period - the Ceylon National Association and the Ceylon Reform League - were of the opinion that the system of education existed then hampered the growth of national culture.

In this way the nationalists as well as the professionals advocated the establishment of a university, and by 1920, even the official colonial opinion was that time had come for a University, and the Director of Education, referring to this subject, stated that 'it is bound to be of great benefit to the people of the country and to develop within a short time into a university with a degree which will have a permanent value and a value outside Ceylon.'

Though the University College came into existence as an institution affiliated to the University of London, the fusion of culture, which the protagonists of the University movement expected, did not develop and even the Oriental Studies, though the students of whom adopted the national dress, were neglected, and the University College did not make a contribution to a renewal of the indigenous Ceylonese culture.

The criticism was that the curricular oriented towards London University examinations resulted in the retardation of indigenous languages and the scientific development of the country.

The impact of this tradition, apart from its immediate impact on the independent and autonomous University established in 1942, continued to influence the academic content of various courses in the Universities of the subsequent period as well, and it is this legacy which needs to be eliminated in order to search for an academic model that could help in the re-construction of the country.

It is at this stage that we need to examine the concept of the colonial university; its legacies and the elitist orientation had a profound impact on our system, and the traditions, which it created through the University of Ceylon, still make inroads into the academic and intellectual life of the Universities in Sri Lanka.

Jennings, writing to the Political Quarterly in 1945 on the role of the University stated that 'Colonial University is not merely a University, it is also a National Gallery, British Museum, Burlington House, Bloomsbury, Chelsea, Royal Society, Chatham House, London Library and much more besides.'

By this comment, Jennings meant that a University in a colony needs to be an all comprehensive intellectual enterprise, encompassing intellectual, scientific and cultural activities of a small segment of the people.

In other words, the Colonial University, for all intents and purposes, was a limited institution catering to the educational needs of a small minority of people who constituted the English-speaking elite of the country.

In this way, the University of Ceylon, after its creation in 1942, became primarily an elitist institution and this character of the institution influenced the intellectual life of the country.

The educational policy of the colonies, as J. E. Goldthorpe explained, was to provide primary education for the maximum number of children while the needs of the higher levels of education were restricted to an elite. The University College was a hybrid institution which fell short of a fully-fledged autonomous University.

The University College was under the Executive Committee of Education in the State Council (1931-46), which, in effect, meant that it was under a form of political control.

With regard to this matter, Jennings wrote that 'nobody who knew anything of university traditions could justify an organization controlled by seven politicians.' The transformation of an institution, which functioned as a Government Department, into an independent autonomous institution was no easy task, and it was to be converted into a national university.

(Continued next week)