Raising Southern Province education system, my goal - Chandima Rasaputra

by Ranil Wijayapala

Hailing from a reputed family which had roots in Matara, Chandima Rasaputra an entrepreneur in the IT sector entered politics in 2009 contesting the Southern Provincial Council election.

He was appointed the Education Minister of the Provincial Council and was able to raise the education level in the province to a top position in the country.

This time as the UPFA team leader of Matara district he contested the election claiming the Chief Ministerial portfolio to Matara district. The Sunday Observer had the following interview with him during his election campaign in Matara.

Q: You came to politics only at the last Provincial Council election. You were termed as a foreigner and outsider to Matara. So why did you select Matara to enter politics?

A: Matara is my father's home town and as a public servant he had served all parts of Sri Lanka and his children were born in different places. I was born in Panadura and was raised there in the Western province.

I left the country when I was young and I was in California for 24 years. My education, my career and my business was developed while I was there.

My father passed away in 1999. I thought of coming to Matara because he loved Matara.

Not only my father, my uncle also had the same thought because my uncle was raised by my father. He wanted us to have links in Matara.

We always thought of Matara and we always thought about doing something for Matara which we couldn't do much.

Q: You were an amateur to politics when you entered politics four years back. Were you satisfied with what you have achieved ?

A: When I contested the last election I didn't know anything about Provincial Councils.

I did not want get into Provincial Council. I got clearly disappointed when I presented my case.

The response I got from the people according to my view is not satisfactory. I got over 40,000 votes which is a big number.

Coming number 3 is difficult. But people were misled. People have to know me because I was in politics only for three months at that time and they were trying actually to say that I am a foreigner.

If we take definition of it that is correct, because I came from outside and was contesting the election from Matara.

But we were from Matara and Rasaputras were from Matara. May be the second generation or third generation returning from somewhere back to Matara. So I am happy about what I have achieved in politics.

Q: You were appointed as a Minister in the Southern Provincial Council. What could you achieve as a Minister?

A: I had so many responsibilities under me. Actually 95 percent of my time was spent for the education because all the other work depended on funds that you get.

If we don't have adequate funds we will not be able to achieve much. But in the education sector by just better managing the system you can achieve much more. That is what I did.

And also you can't make a mistake there. If we make a mistake that will actually harm generations of students.

I was very careful about not to let something go wrong in the system because in Sri Lanka right now we don't have systems to correct those mistakes. They may have it in other places but we don't have it yet. But I think we are going towards it because we are introducing vocational education and technical education.

Q: What are the priority areas you have identified for the Matara district and also as a whole for the entire Southern province if you get re-elected to the Provincial Council?

A: I should say it all depends on the responsibilities I will be given. Hopefully education will be as a subject with any position.

We will try to make the Southern Province the best province in education wise. We are in the number one position in the primary education. There is no question on that. We have raised the standards where others have also recognised that the Southern province standard is much better than theirs because of the programme we follow for the exams. They also follow that program. In that sense we are much better than the other provinces.

We achieved the first place in primary education by reducing the stress level of the students sitting for the scholarship examination.

I think in the next three years we will come first in all three levels secondary and O level and A Levels also.

That is not the only area we should progress.

We should progress on sports in schools and also ethics and values. As far as education is concerned we will bring the education system in the southern province to international standard. That is my goal.

Q: On the development side do you think enough resources have been given for the Southern province ?

A: I think the resources are not adequate. But resources are coming through different channels. I should not say resources are not coming. That is not reasonable for the Government even for the President. Resources are coming through different channels where we don't have control over managing those resources. That is the problem. Sometimes we see some resources being wasted without being able to achieve desired goals. But wherever we get involved we have done our best.

Q: As the team leader of the UPFA how do you see the progress of the UPFA election campaign in the Matara district this time ?

A: We are doing reasonably well.

Q: According to media reports have you a target of becoming number one from Matara?

A: I have never said that. I have not done that ever in my life. I try to do my best. I am not saying that we are running the best campaign because the campaign can be done far better than what we are doing now. But we are doing reasonably well.

There may be a chance of coming first by doing well and according to what I hear from people.

Q: There is a big competition to be appointed the Chief Minister and each district have their claim. What is the position about the Matara district right now ?

A: There may be a competition in Galle. But within Matara they don't have much interest to get the position for Matara. I am actually bothered about it because all candidates who have qualification and chances of getting it should try to get it for Matara. That is their responsibility.

It is my duty to get much votes to give the biggest turnout and also helping all the candidates to do the best and bring the Chief Minister position to Matara.

Q: Why are you claiming that Chief Ministers post should come to Matara district this time ?

A: This is our turn because the first two chances went to Galle, the second two chances were given to Matara. Then the fifth and sixth went to Galle. If you are looking for a pattern the next two turns should be given to Matara unless candidates from Hambantota demand for it. Then that will ok. They do have the right to get it but under the situation the President is in power and the number of powerful people working for Hambantota I don't think they will really take any interest in taking the post to Hambantota. If that is the case if they have a claim we have to agree with it. Otherwise we should get it for Matara.

Q: Do you think that without the Chief Ministerial portfolio it is difficult to serve the people under the Provincial Council system?

A: We have no control over financial allocation. Basically we are doing the planning for the province. And also allocating the funds for various departments and the policies are mostly done by the Chief Minister. Plans are adopted by the Chief Minister and Ministers have not much say. They can only make changes in their Ministries but the Chief Minister has a big role. If you're the Chief Minister you can change the directions but Ministers can't.

You may ask a question with the collective responsibility of the Provincial Cabinet what the Cabinet is doing. The Chief Minister is making the decision and it goes to the Cabinet to give their opinion. But plans and directions come from the Chief Minister.

Q: Do you think the opposition will become a challenge for the UPFA at the forthcoming election?

A: They are no challenge. You cannot see a proper campaign by them in the Matara district. They will get loyal votes. People should be able to vote according to the situation. But in Sri Lanka we have die hard party politics. Right or wrong they stick to the party. If we take those numbers they get some votes. That number is also going down during the past few years. I don't think they will get much votes. The competition is only among us. We hardly see a opposition meeting. We hardly see a campaign.

Q: There is an allegation that the Government is trying to get the sympathy vote exploiting the situation where the US government is trying to bring a resolution against the Sri Lankan government at the UNHCR?

A: It is not. Keep sympathy aside, we should inform the people. We should tell people what is going on. People should know what is happening because the opposition is also involved in this. Opposition is indirectly helping the outsiders do that. Some of the information given out are by the opposition and supported by the Opposition. They are the advocates of the case for international people within the country. So the Government should actually inform the people.

If we take the overall position are we in a better position compared to the situation in 2009. We are in a better position in the South East Asian region except for Singapore which is a very small place. Nothing wrong can happen if the people are supportive of us.

Q: What will be the result at the March 29 election ?

A: We will have a big win in Matara district. What we are trying to do is to encourage the people to come and vote. Normally the percentage of voting is very much less at Provincial Council elections. If we have bigger turnout we will have a bigger win. If we do not have in-fighting we will have better result.