Disgruntled elements toying with education

President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the Bali Democracy Forum IV in Indonesia last week that education is the key to social advancement.

He said that a contribution of unique value, the Free Education, which Sri Lanka has made to social development in the field of education is the innovative scheme in terms of which students are assured of State assistance.

Sri Lanka is among the few countries which provides free education from the kindergarten to university. Apart from this unique facility provided by the Government, students are assured of all State assistance with regard to the provision of their needs, including board and lodging, books and incidental expenses, throughout their educational career.

As President Rajapaksa has quite rightly pointed out, this is undoubtedly the basis of the social transformation in recent times in the island, resulting in high levels of achievement not only in the field of education in the conventional sense, but also in computer literacy and skills development in contemporary fields.Just a few days prior to President Rajapaksa’s inspiring speech on the importance of education, Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardena told Parliament that a new Education Bill would be introduced soon.

More importantly, the Bill, according to the Education Minister, will not be changed to suit the whims and fancies of political parties in power. In other words, Sri Lanka would soon have a clear-cut education policy that would not change with the party in power.

This, indeed, is most welcome, as such a policy, to suit the best interests of the country, will remain unchanged despite various political parties taking office from time to time. A national education policy of this nature would only be changed when necessary in the best interests of the nation and not pander to the personal agendas of politicians or parties holding office. The Bill, according to the Education Minister, has been formulated, taking into consideration the proposals from nearly 700 educationists with a heart for Mother Lanka.

The UPFA Government, under President Rajapaksa, has spent lavishly on education as an investment for the future. Consequently, the country has achieved praiseworthy progress in the educational sector. The number of students who qualified at the GCE O/L examination to enter the Advanced Level class has increased from 47.8 percent in 2005 to 58.8 percent in 2010. The number of students, who qualified for university education, increased from 55.2 percent to 61.2 percent during this period.

Simultaneously, the Government has embarked on a national level campaign to provide equal educational opportunities to a wide spectrum of students in the country. Every possible effort has been taken to dispel disparities, concentrating mainly on 1,590 small schools with less than 50 students. There are 197 larger schools with over 2,500 students. Of the 2,721 secondary schools in the country, only 716 have facilities to teach science subjects in the Advanced Level classes.

In making budgetary allocations and planning for education, the President has also taken into consideration various views and suggestions by schoolchildren and teachers from rural schools who visit Temple Trees. Plans are under way to develop 1,000 high quality secondary schools to meet universal standards and 5,000 well performing primary schools that would be linked to such secondary schools.

The Government hopes to launch this program in association with the Provincial Councils at Divisional Secretariat level. Accordingly, 300 secondary schools and 700 primary schools will be modernised next year.

The President, in his 2012 Budget speech, told Parliament last month that the Government would give top priority to recruit new teachers for mathematics, science, IT and languages. The quality of school textbooks and teaching material would also be improved under this project. Budget 2012 has allocated a staggering Rs.95 billion for primary and secondary education.

Special emphasis has also been focused on skills education as it has been found that around 25,000 of the 350,000 Advanced Level candidates qualify to enter State universities annually. About 175,000 children enter into vocational education provided by the private and public sectors. The remaining 140,000 youth do not get an opportunity to improve their skills.

The President is strongly of the view that all children should have access to skills development. Hence, he has proposed to introduce a system which would select GCE Advanced Level students either to enter university or pursue skills development. This would ensure that all students who do not qualify to receive a university education would get an opportunity to develop their skills. To meet this challenge, the Government has allocated a colossal Rs. 8,617 million for vocational education.

According to the Mahinda Chinthana policy, the Government wouldn’t close rural schools. On the other hand, 325 schools would be selected from Pradeshiya Sabha areas to be upgraded with modern facilities. The Government will upgrade at least three schools in each Divisional Secretariat Division with all modern facilities, to prevent student congestion in urban schools. Five-thousand primary schools are now being upgraded.

It is most heartening to note that the country’s literacy rate has reached around 95 percent, one of the highest in the world. This, no doubt, is a singular honour for Sri Lanka. On the other hand, the computer literacy rate has been increasing steadily from 35-40 percent.

At a time the Government is spending billions of rupees on education and skills development, a handful of undergraduates, with vested interests, are trying to mar the smooth functioning of State universities. By being pawns to extremist political parties they represent, these undergraduates are not only squandering public funds but also robbing the precious time of their fellow undergraduates.

Most undergraduates are well disciplined and keen to complete their graduation rather than becoming mouthpieces of extremist political elements. Nevertheless, the handful of extremist undergraduates are a spoke in the wheel. The Government should take prompt action to maintain discipline at any cost at universities and not give into a set of misguided elements.

Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake is playing a commendable role in instilling discipline in the country’s higher education system. It is the supreme duty of all right-thinking student leaders to support Minister Dissanayake who is doing his utmost to introduce a new culture in the university system.JVP founder Rohana Wijeweera was largely instrumental in making innocent students and undergraduates scapegoats to achieve his party’s narrow political goals. Hundreds of undergraduates had to sacrifice their precious lives when Wijeweera sought shortcuts to capture power. The Government should take the bull by its horns in dealing with subversive elements who attempt to create unrest in the universities.