JVP hell-bent on destroying undergrads' future

The Government has allocated billions of rupees on free education, from the kindergarten to postgraduate degrees. But to what extent have students used this unique facility is worth an appraisal. Funds allocated on the country's higher education system go down the drain due to wildcat strikes in the universities. While undergraduates engage in strikes at the drop of a hat during a major part of the year, university dons and non-academics spend the remaining period on trade union action.

Most politicians, especially those in the Opposition who are unable to prove their strength at elections, turn to universities to tap young party membership. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which had unsuccessfully attempted to capture power through two insurgencies in 1971 and 1988/89, had invariably used higher education institutions to disseminate its extremist political culture.

The JVP, through the notorious Inter-University Students' Federation, has more often than not used universities, technical colleges and other higher educational institutions in the country to flex its political muscle though it never won the masses' confidence democratically.

Over the years, the JVP desperately tapped new membership among university freshers. Those who gain university admission with the least knowledge of local politics, fall prey to the brainwashing of JVP senior students, who exploit ragging to inject their political ideology. This helped the JVP to strengthen its membership in the universities.

Most students who support the so-called Anthare during their undergraduate days, abandon JVP politics after graduation and seek white collar jobs, which runs counter to the JVP's socialist theories. It is only at this point of time that students get a broader picture of politics and life. Nevertheless, the JVP still maintains its strength at universities as its remaining seniors continue to enrol new members from the next batch of freshers.

Hence this vicious circle continues unabated, the JVP commands most student federations in universities. The JVP student union leaders, true to form, instigate an extremist political ideology. This is mainly because the senior-most JVP leaders depend solely on its membership in universities to demonstrate the party's strength from time to time. Thus, strikes and trade union action have become synonymous with the country's university system.

On the other hand, the JVP students' wing also extends unbridled support to the trade unions of academics and non-academics so that it could take the upper hand and project a dismal overall picture.

A few months ago, the university non-academic staff was on strike for over a month. Today, there is an ongoing trade union action by the dons, led by the Federation of University Teachers' Associations (FUTA).

Despite the Government responding positively to the FUTA's major demands and reopening the universities on Thursday, disgruntled elements are now attempting to give a fresh lease of life to the dons' unreasonable trade union action. The Higher Education Ministry asserted that the Government has granted almost all their demands, save an unreasonable salary hike.

The Higher Education Ministry on Wednesday, in a special Gazette notification said that all State-run universities and higher education institutions will re-open from September 6. These institutions were closed by a Special Gazette order by Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake on August 21.

The Minister issued a Gazette notification rescinding the previous order made under the Universities Act. When the FUTA launched its strike, they demanded that the Government allocate at least six percent of the country's Gross Domestic Production on education. However, this unrealistic and unreasonable demand has been widely criticised by many knowledgeable experts in the trade.

Leading economist and a senior lecturer at the University of Colombo, Dr. T. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan dubbed the FUTA demands as 'illogical, inappropriate and irrelevant'. Earlier in a letter to the Arts Faculty Teachers' Association (AFTA) and FUTA, Dr. Gunaruwan had said that the demand for a fixed six percent allocation of the GDP for the education sector is outrageous, considering that the Government's total Budget is nearly one-quarter of the GDP at present. This was almost 40 percent of the GDP in the late 1970s.

Thus, a six percent ratio of the GDP, if applied today, would mean that nearly a quarter of the Government's total expenditure - or over one-third of the Government's total revenue, will have to be allocated for education.

In an economy where almost all fast-growing sectors such as industries, tourism, transport and many services, belong to the private sector, this trend will only continue and as a result, the share of the Government Budget in the economy would reduce further. Higher ratios from the GDP could be spent by countries such as China which have large public sectors.

It is needless to stress the importance of protecting and further developing the public education system and the need to prevent any pruning of funds in real terms on public education. Since President Mahinda Rajapaksa first took office in 2005, Sri Lanka has allocated more funds on sectors such as health, education, agriculture and public security. Unfortunately, the FUTA has ignored all these and turned a blind eye to the more pressing needs in the education sector.

Are the FUTA intellectuals unable to comprehend the fact that the Government would be compelled to withdraw budgetary allocations from many sectors such as power, railways, highways, ports, airports and irrigation, if a fixed percentage of the GDP as demanded by them is allocated to education? Such a situation would pave the way for privatisation of these resource generating strategic activities. It is a pity that this simple arithmetic surpasses the comprehension of eminent academics, particularly those in engineering, mathematics and economics, who are FUTA members.

On the other hand, some FUTA members, on strike, participated in various anti-Government demonstrations organised by the JVP, thereby exposing the hidden agenda behind the dons' ongoing trade union action.

The majority of the FUTA members do not approve of these unrealistic demands. Hence, the small coterie of lecturers, affiliated to the JVP and those anti-Government elements should not be permitted to trifle with the lives of tomorrow's intellectuals. The university lecturers should be intelligent enough to understand the ground realities and realise that their demands are unjust.

It is the bounden duty of the Government to safeguard the future of the undergraduates by exposing the hidden agenda of the FUTA. The JVP, under no circumstances, should toy with the lives of the youth.