Larger interest of students will be ensured:

Govt won’t tolerate students disrupting varsity education

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

The Higher Education Ministry and the Government would not hesitate to take stern action against university students who attempt to disrupt university education by resorting to various unlawful activities, Higher Education Minister S.B.Dissanayake told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

Of the 80,000 students in the 15 universities, only 2,000 resorted to various unlawful acts to disrupt university education, he said.

The JVP-backed student unions are fully behind the crisis. This psychological warfare launched by the student groups should be defeated.

If they persist in this campaign, the Ministry would not hesitate to ban them from attending lectures or arrest them. “We cannot permit this student group to disrupt university education. It won’t be unfair to ban them from attending lectures or take legal action against them if they attempt to destroy the future of the university students. It would not be a problem to get rid of 2,000 students from the university system in the larger interests of the university students. The sole intention of this student group is to retain power at the cost of students' future,” he said.

According to Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Sunil Jayantha Nawaratne all clashes are created due to the Government’s decision to change the existing system in the universities so as to eliminate unlawful activities.

The motive on the part of the JVP backed students’ unions is to deprive Higher Education Minister S.B.Dissanayake of his portfolio at the next Cabinet reshuffle as he has successfully faced their challenges.

“If President Mahinda Rajapaksa could eradicate the three-decade-LTTE terrorism from the country, it won’t be difficult for the Government to resolve the problems created by a small group of university students. We cannot allow extremist elements to darken the future of the university students,” Dr.Nawaratne said.

He said there were no such situations in Jaffna, Uva Wellassa, Eastern or South Eastern Universities. This unhealthy trend continues only in a few universities. The situation at the Sri Jayewardhenepura University has returned to normalcy after the Ministry took steps to ban the classes of 65 students. It is not unfair to ban the classes of the 65 students in the interest of over 9,000 students.