Thursday, 23 October 2014 00:00
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Traffic was snarled in Colombo and its outskirts on Tuesday, partially due to a massive university students’ protest. Hundreds of protestors marched to Parliament to protest the Government’s education policies, but encountered tough Police resistance. Thirteen students were reported to have been injured in the tear gas-filled melee, with unions charging Police fired canisters directly at the protestors with the intention of injuring them.
Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake is also known to be a man who does not bother holding back punches. In fact he has been frequently reported saying only pending elections are holding back the Government arm from delivering much stronger blows to student protests. Basically, his speeches embody all that is wrong with the stubborn, closed-door policies of the Government that is pushing reconciliation through open discussion further and further away.
Whatever Dissanayake and the Government may feel, the students have some legitimate issues such as the gradual reduction of Budget funds, politicisation, haphazard introduction of private universities and lack of financial accountability. But perhaps the most poignant woe is that the Government has firmly stopped listening. Tear-gassed protests articulate clearly the impasse reached when both parties are unwilling to listen and compromise. It is no surprise therefore that the higher education sector always looks as if it is lurching from one disaster to the next.
University teachers remain largely dissatisfied after the 2012 agreement was disregarded by the Government, with an indefinite strike forever brooding on the horizon. With the Government keen to promote private universities but avoid troublesome standoffs with student unions and dons, it is likely that it will rush through with crucial legislation that should empower the public higher education system and regularise their private counterparts.
Lack of transparent discussions and growing concerns over corruption will also make stakeholders insecure about the direction of the country’s higher education sector. The recent rolling up of a commission headed by the Higher Education Minister’s son to provide accreditation to private degree-awarding institutions is a case in point. It overlooked enforcement of standards, causing much consternation, especially among the medical fraternity.
Students, tired of being caught between a rock and a hard place, would probably welcome the option of getting an accredited degree at home. But without proper monitoring and standardisation, the hard-earned money of their parents could be wasted.
On a larger level, Sri Lanka needs technology and knowledge transfer to foster economic growth. On the surface, that seems like an argument for private universities, but knowledge needs to be matched with intelligent minds; at present the best crop is funnelled to public universities. The fear that State universities will become the destination for poor students while their richer colleagues opt for private universities should not be allowed to become reality. The ideal of universal higher education opportunities must be upheld.
In such a morass of challenges, it is imperative the university system is guided on the ideals of fairness and equality, but past experiences do not bode well for the future. The Government continues to dole out small allocations for the education sector and has basically laid the foundation for yet another standoff with university teachers and students, which bodes ill for everyone. Friday’s Budget would be a good indication of whether they are listening at all.
