HNDA awarded degree status

But students union to continue action until a solid solution is given:

by Chathuri Dissanayake

The Cabinet Paper to elevate the Higher National Diploma in Accounting (HNDA) to be equivalent to a Bachelor of Commerce degree program was approved this week.

The government has decided to reinstate the Public Administration Circular 46/90 on awarding degree status to the HNDA program, which was repealed by the former government.

"It is the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Administration which should submit the Cabinet Paper. It was their ministry which submitted the Cabinet Paper to abolish the previous circular which reognized the diploma as an alternative qualification," said D. Dissanayake, Secretary to Ministry of Higher Education.

Equivalent

Officials at the Ministry of Public Administration however maintained that unless the 'Ministry of Education state the qualification could be considered equivalent or an alternative to a degree' there was little they could do.

"It is because they did not give straight forward decision on the matter that we decided to abolish the 90 circular last year," claims J. Dadallage. However, the ministry did submit a Cabinet Paper this week. Dissanayake was certain that the Cabinet will approve their recommendation. The HNDA can now be considered as an alternative qualification for accountancy related jobs in government sector based on Cabinet approval. However, the parameters governing the degree status of the qualification and if other government institutions will give it due consideration will deped on the recruitment criteraia of the respective institution, the Ministry of Education advised.

Two committees were appointed to probe into the police attack on the student protest which took place on October 29. One committee, appointed by the Prime Minister headed by Dr. B.M.S. Batagoda while the second was appointed by the National Police Commission to probe into the conduct of the police.

The third appointed to evaluate the diploma and make suggestions to elevate it headed by Prof. P.S.M. Gunaratne, communicated their recommendations to the students as well. The recommendation highlighted that students who followed the course had the required skills since they had achieved high scores in the Advanced level examination, Prof. Gunaratne said.

"Many of the students who have followed the course have performed well in Advance Level examination but missed out on the opportunity to enter university due to the current recruitment system," he explained.

Solution

"We will continue our action until a solid solution is given. We wrote to them and tried to discuss the matter but they didnt pay attention', claims Dammika Ruwan Kumara, the Convener of HNDA Students Union. The Ministry of Higher Education claims that the Ministry was already in the process of sorting out the matter before the students took the law into their own hands. Dissanayake however admists that there were delays.

"There was a Cabinet Paper prepared by previous minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama, but the ministers changed along with secretaries. So we had to restart the process," he claimed.

To complicate matters further, the institute was allocated to the Ministry of Skills Development and Vocational Training after August. Then re-assigned to Ministry of University Education on 15th October. They were later referred to the Ministry of Higher Education.

"We wrote to the Minister in January, and received a letter in February assuring a solution would be given in two weeks. But nothing happened," claimed Kumara. He said the students kept writing letters with a final one sent to the President, and copied to the Prime Minister, Speaker and Members of Parliament including the Minister of Education. But the students received no response."So we decided to stage a peaceful protest," said Kumara.

Officials at the Ministry of Higher Education claimed they knew nothing about the protest until it was too late. Although Ministry of Higher Education is located in Ward Place, the officials and the Minister operate from the Ministry of Highways. Dissanayake claimed the police failed to inform the ministry officials of the protest march progressing towards Ward Place.

According to Dissanayake, police informed the two Additional Secretaries of Ministry of Education about the situation only when the students reached the ministry gates. Within a short period tension had built up and the students were baton charged, he said. He was quick to add that neither the

Minister nor he knew anything about what transpired, until after the incident.