Jaffna College in crisis: National Christian Council’s intervention sought

• Following is an open letter to the officers and members of the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka from the Jaffna College Alumni Association Executive Committee 

The Executive Committee of the Jaffna College Alumni Association (JCAA), as per a decision made at its meeting held on 18 June 2022 at Jaffna College, writes this open letter to the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) to bring to the immediate attention of the Council a festering crisis of democracy and financial accountability at Jaffna College due to the commissions and omissions of its Board of Directors led by Bishop Daniel Thiagarajah.

Jaffna College is a Protestant Christian institution. The Constitution of the Board of Directors of Jaffna College specifies that all members of the Board, except the Alumni Representative, should be affiliated with member churches of the NCCSL. Thus, we feel it is important that the NCCSL is made aware of this crisis and that the Council’s intervention and support is sought to address it.

Jaffna College and its social importance

Jaffna College and its predecessor institution Batticotta Seminary have contributed in significant ways to the education scene of the north for nearly 200 years. In fact, we are celebrating the 200th and the 150th founding anniversaries of Batticotta Seminary and Jaffna College in 2023 and 2022 respectively. Even as we are reflecting on the historical role these institutions have played in the arena of education and their contribution to democratisation and social justice in northern Sri Lanka and beyond, we are worried about the future of our alma mater due to the unconstitutional actions of the Board of Directors. 

Many local communities from Vaddukoddai and neighbouring villages, especially children from low-income families, oppressed caste communities, communities affected by the civil war and a significant number of female students have received education from Jaffna College until now. The education and extra-curricular activities offered by the College prepared its students to meet the challenges of the world of work and enabled their upward mobility in social and economic terms. Due to the wide-ranging facilities and opportunities available at Jaffna College, the residents of Vaddukoddai and neighbouring villages did not have to send their children to resource-rich schools in Jaffna town for quality education. 

The amicable, non-regimented teacher-student relationships nurtured at the College, the freedom the students enjoyed in questioning established wisdom, the space available for the senior students to participate in social work and the democratic systems of governance that were in place, including the election of student councillors (prefects) by ballot which is still in practice, inculcated in those who were part of the Jaffna College community a strong commitment to democratic ethos and inclusive, participatory decision-making. 

Students who received their education in such a democratic ambience became sensitive to the socio-economic disparities in the wider community and keenly contributed later in their lives to social transformation. Children from the south and Malaiyaham too attended Jaffna College before the war; today they bear testimony to the positive, enabling role the College played in the lives of communities outside the north.

Constitutional governance under assault

Under the chairmanship of Bishop Thiagarajah, who took over the leadership of the Board in the late 2000s and later amended the Board’s constitution to make the Bishop of the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India (JDCSI) Chairperson of the Board by virtue of office, the very values for which Jaffna College has been known nationally and globally are faced with a serious threat. Convening Board meetings, appointing members to the Board excepting the Alumni Representative, and the decision-making processes including those related to the daily affairs of the College are all controlled by Bishop Thiagarajah today. The Constitution of the Jaffna College Board has been violated in serious ways. We specify some of the violations below: 

Non-occurrence of Board meetings: The Constitution stipulates that the Board should meet at least thrice every year. Between 1 October 2020 and 18 October 2021, the Board did not even meet once. Under the pretext of the pandemic, the leadership of the Board refrained from convening Board meetings. No Board meeting has taken place since 18 October 2021. 

With the connivance of the Principal of Jaffna College, the Chairperson of the Board interfered in the election of the Staff Representative in 2020.

Board members are not consulted when Board nominees are appointed.

The Executive Committee of the Board, which is required to approve the annual budget and the audited financial statements for the previous year, has not met for the past eight years. As a result, the staff of the College who have direct representation on the Executive Committee have not been able to contribute to key decision-making processes. 

The present Vice Chairperson (Vijula Arulanantham) and Treasurer (Nagaiah) of the Board are overstaying their terms in violation of the Constitution. 

At the last meeting of the Board, even the minutes of the previous meeting, which had taken place nearly a year ago, was not presented. 

For the past eight years, the College budget has not been prepared. 

Some members of the JDCSI recently brought to our attention that even the JDCSI nominees to the Jaffna College Board are appointed by Bishop Thiagarajah without the participation of the Diocesan Council or its Executive Committee. The deterioration of constitutional governance within the Board severely impacts teacher recruitment, extra-curricular activities and the maintenance of physical infrastructure at Jaffna College. The staff of the College are yet to receive a portion of their salary arrears. The recent pay hike for teachers in the public sector has not been implemented at Jaffna College. Shockingly, the monies deducted from the salaries of the teachers towards their pension funds have not been transferred to the relevant office. 

The administrative culture within the school mirrors the lack of democracy within the Board. Rivalries between administrators are encouraged by the Board. Teachers and administrators are made to spy on one another and a culture of sycophancy has taken root in the College. As a result, there is a general decline in the democratic ethos of Jaffna College. 

We strongly believe that education provided under a system that fails to uphold democratic values and cannot ensure transparency and accountability will have little impact on the students and the wider community. Instead of having opportunities to observe and practice democratic values and inclusive governance, students are exposed to a culture of totalitarianism and arrogance which will have harmful ramifications for their personal, social and professional lives in the future. 

The Board’s relationship with the trustees

In 2017, the Trustees of Jaffna College Funds based in Boston, USA, became concerned about the breakdown of democracy within the Board and required the Board to implement a set of reforms. The leadership of the Board showed little interest in discussing these reforms with the rest of the Board. Only a few Board members and some external consultants were appointed to prepare the Board’s responses to the Trustees. The responses sent to the Trustees were never discussed at Board meetings. The alumni later found out from court documents made available in the USA that many of the reforms the leadership of the Board claimed that it had implemented in its communication to the Trustees had not in fact been implemented. 

When the Trustees wanted the Chairperson of the Board and Vice Chairperson to resign, the Board filed a litigation against the Trustees. This litigation, still pending, has already cost a lot of money and the legal fee incurred by both parties are being paid from the Trust funds. 

Early this year, there was an attempt to bring the stalemate between the Board and Trustees to an end via mediation. But that too failed. The Trustees in a recent communication stated that they had made a generous settlement proposal to the Board in 2021. However, this offer was not even tabled at any of the Board meetings. In August 2021, the Board through their lawyers in Boston communicated to the Trustees that “the relationship between [TJCF] and the college is beyond repair.” However, there had been no discussion within the Board on the Board’s relationship with the Trustees before this serious, strongly worded communication was sent. 

The alumni suspects that the Chair or a small group within the Board led by the Chair and Vice Chair is making and communicating decisions on behalf of the Board in a non-transparent manner without the participation of the entire Board. Citing lack of transparency and accountability in the conduct of the Board, the Trustees have recently informed the alumni that they could no longer work with the Board and that they would soon severe their nearly 150-year-old ties with Jaffna College. The funds are likely to be trifurcated and brought under three different entities. As a result, Jaffna College faces the danger of losing beneficiary status for nearly 50% of the funds currently held by the Trustees. 

Bishop Thiagarajah’s intransigence to reforms and his total failure to uphold democracy and the Board’s constitution have posed a serious threat to the future of Jaffna College. At a time when Sri Lanka is faced with a serious economic crisis and the country’s education sector is facing unprecedented challenges, the funds held by the Trustees in Boston can help Jaffna College continue its educational activities without much disruption. However, if the Board succeeds in its 2016 plan to transfer eight-ninths of the funds held in the USA to Sri Lanka, Jaffna College will soon plunge into a financial crisis and will not even be able to provide the salaries of its teachers in the long run. Moreover, we have absolutely no faith that the Board, which has lost all legitimacy in the eyes of the alumni and the wider community due to its undemocratic actions, will manage these funds amounting to $ 33-35 million in a transparent manner. 

The Jaffna College Board, which is predominantly represented by the JDCSI, includes three members of the Church of Ceylon, namely Vijula Arulanantham, Rajan Asirwatham and Dr. Shamil Appathurai. Although they are aware of many of the violations referred to in this letter, they have not shown any seriousness in bringing about the reforms that the Trustees and the alumni have been demanding for the past five years.

M.A. Sumanthiran, a member of the Methodist Church (and the Jaffna Diocese of Church of South India?) who is reputed for his defence of constitutional governance at the national level, serves as Legal Advisor to the Board. We are disappointed to note that the violations specified above have occurred on the watch of some prominent members of the Church of Ceylon and Methodist Church, both affiliated with the NCCSL. 

Our request to the NCCSL

The Jaffna College Alumni Association requests the NCCSL and its leaders to intervene and take the necessary steps to prevent this crisis at Jaffna College from worsening. 

We request the NCCSL and its member churches to: 

(a) take a strong stance against Bishop Thiagarajah’s assault on democracy and good governance at Jaffna College;

(b) raise the matters presented in this communication with Bishop Thiagarajah and the JDCSI, which is a member Church of the NCCSL;

(c) insist that the Board uphold its Constitution and good governance practices and conduct the Board meetings regularly;

(d) persuade Bishop Thiagarajah to withdraw the court case against the Trustees and make requests for funds on the basis of a properly prepared and duly approved annual budget;

(e) hold their members who are on the Jaffna College Board and provide legal counsel to the Board accountable, and caution them against aiding and abetting Bishop Thiagarajah’s manipulations and violations at Jaffna College; and 

(f) provide us an opportunity to meet with the leaders of the NCCSL churches to brief the present situation at Jaffna College. 

We are hopeful that the NCCSL will take this communication and our requests seriously and act in the long-term interests of Jaffna College.