Stories of the Wind

All state school textbooks carry an excerpt from a speech made by President Rajapaksa in 2010:

“Beloved Sons and Daughters, Many countries that lagged behind us at the time we gained independence have now passed us and gone far ahead. But, we must not be prepared to copy those countries or work according to the development models of those nations. Similarly, there is no purpose in continuing to lament about our lost heritage. What we shall do instead is to surpass them and reach a stage of overall development they have not reached, and show new paths and possibilities to the world. Dear Sons and Daughters, we are now engaged in building your future!”

Our country’s education standard has been very bad for long. One must, however, be conscious of the distinction between ‘standard’ and ‘system’. Under this regime the education system, too, is fast decaying.

A cursory glance at the record of the organs of the education system – relevant ministries, the University Grants Commission, the Examinations Department etc. – over the past few years would suffice to understand how appalling the situation is. In 2008, GCE Ordinary Level students were made to redo Part II of the mathematics paper, because the first paper was declared unfair. The problems related to the 2011 Advanced Level Examinations are well known; over hundred thousand students applied for re-scrutiny (this costs Rs 750), and the problem remains unresolved to this day. In September last year, Ceylon Teachers Services Union criticized the Examinations Department for proceeding to evaluate Grade 5 Scholarship examination papers, without conducting proper investigations into alleged wrongdoings.  Later last year, O/L science questions were leaked, and as a remedy all the students were freely awarded nineteen points (out of a hundred). Then there is also the controversy surrounding the Law College Entrance Examination. Add to these the numerous trade union actions led by teachers unions, shortage of teachers in schools and universities, occasional closure of universities, delays in releasing results and rampant corruption we have an unprecedented mess in the system.

The worst part about the whole story is that relevant authorities are undisturbed by this colossal deterioration. In fact, they maintain that things are just fine.

The Minister of Education and the Minister of Higher Education are operating without any vision or long term strategy. This was evident when Bandula Gunawardena recently debunked the ex-Chief Justice’s verdict on the Z-score fiasco, following her impeachment. When asked why he accepted the ruling at the time it was issued, the Minister replied, ‘I did not want to end up in prison for contempt of court’. S B Dissanayake who spoke to the awaiting students during the University Students’ Leadership Training is said to have evaded the most important question of when university classes would commence. Instead, he chose to slam the JVP and the remaining fragments of the LTTE for allegedly disturbing academic activities.

The government is hurriedly building two new engineering faculties – one in Killinochi and one in Ampara, ostensibly to accommodate the 300 additional engineering students as a result of the Z score mess up. However, it is well established that there is a shortage of teachers in the existing engineering faculties; the government has announced the intention to the government is planning to hire Indian teachers to meet the requirements. Given the wages the government is currently paying university teachers compared to what Indian professors are paid, it would be very difficult to attract teachers of quality . The future of the three-hundred students (x4 in the long run as these students get to their 4^th year) looks very bleak.

None of our universities features in any university ranking of repute. Our universities do not produce ‘new’ knowledge, because little research is being carried out.

Poor quality uniform material has been distributed, the treasurer of the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU), Nishantha Deshapriya, charged on the 23^rd of January. He claimed that children have been given sub-standard, transparent material to stitch uniforms with. Some students have found the length of the material short, and inadequate to tailor a complete uniform.

Each new day a new controversy surrounds the education system, and each new day we sink new lows. Parents have expressed their discontent, and the growing distrust in the system is becoming increasingly more evident. The irresponsible conduct of the highest authorities is not helping. How ‘we shall surpass those who have gone ahead of us and reach a stage of overall development they have not reached, and show new paths and possibilities to the world’ remains to be seen.

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