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print versionMarch of Academics, Students & Non-Academics in a bid to safeguard free education in Sri Lanka
Organized by Federation of Peradeniya University Teachers Associations, 20th Sept. 2012
Sri Lanka: Million Signature Campaign to ’Save State Education’ by FUTA
http://www.sacw.net/article2724.html
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Sri Lanka Students and Academics Rally over Education
Students shout slogans at the Sri Jayawardenepura University in Colombo, 5 January 2012 In January university students held protests against government plans
About 2,000 teachers and students held a mass rally in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, a day after the government shut down most universities.
Academics have been on strike since the beginning of July, demanding more money for education and less of what they see as government interference.
Strikers oppose plans for private-sector involvement in universities, which have always had state funding.
But the authorities have accused teachers of playing political games.
They have said that academics, who are also demanding a salary increase, are trying to topple the government.
"Save state education" was the slogan towering above the podium in a park where speakers using fiery rhetoric pronounced higher education to be in danger, reports the BBC’s Charles Haviland in Colombo.
Organisers of the colourful rally, staged by the main union of academics, wore orange and maroon T-shirts with the words "Six Percent", which is the proportion of gross domestic product academics say should be spent on education overall.
They say this is a benchmark figure set by the UN, but that the figure in Sri Lanka keeps falling and it is now below 2%.
And Sri Lanka’s educational crisis is spreading, our correspondent warns.
Schoolteachers are now threatening not to mark A-level exam papers as they say they need academics’ input to do this.
Sri Lanka shuts down 13 of its 15 state-funded universities
Posted by Karthiyayini on August 23, 2012 in Exclusive, Headlines, National, News, Sri Lanka · 0 Comments
Colombo, Aug 23 (TruthDive): University academics have been on a strike in Sri Lanka since early July this year demanding higher spends in education sector and salary hikes and blaming the government for its increased political interference in campus life.
In a blunt response to this strike by academics, the Sri Lankan government has shut down 13 of its 15 state-funded universities except the medical schools for an indefinite period thus putting the future of education in darkness in the island nation.
University campuses in Sri Lanka have been the originating points for mayhem and commotion in the nation for decades. BBC reports say that students’ problems helped trigger the Tamil insurgency as well as equally bloody Sinhalese insurrections in the 1970s and 80s.
Higher authorities in the government accuse the academics of attempting to overthrow the government. The higher education minister SB Dissanayake said that their (the trade union’s) aim is to create instability and a political crisis leading to a regime change.
While the government maintains that it has already agreed to five of their six key demands, the spokesman for the academics’ main union, Mahim Mendis, told the BBC that this simply was not true. He added that the “politicization and militarization†of universities must come to an end.
Loyalists of ministers are said to have been appointed for top university posts currently. Mahim Mendis added that this is a national struggle and the suggestion that they want a change of regime is frivolous.
He also condemned a proclamation persuading universities to use security agencies run by the ministry of defence and he criticised a two-week programme of compulsory military-led training which all university freshers now have to undergo.
Secondary education has also been in disorder here, with a large-scale scandal involving ineffectiveness in the marking of school-leaving exam papers.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) General Secretary Tilvin Silva said that the solution does not lie in closing down the universities which would eventually lead to the toppling of the government.
Silva suggested that the government should instead take steps to bring the strike to an end. He also warned that they would take to strong political action if the government continues to put the country’s education sector in the dark.
Sri Lanka Government Shuts Down Universities
By Charles Haviland
Colombo
Sri Lanka’s government has closed down almost all universities for an indefinite period amid a row about the future of education in the island.
Academics have been on strike for nearly two months, accusing the government of interference and demanding more be spent on the sector.
The authorities say teachers are putting students in a position of "darkness, without any hope".
For decades, university campuses have been a source of turmoil in Sri Lanka.
Students’ problems helped trigger the Tamil insurgency as well as equally bloody Sinhalese insurrections in the 1970s and 80s.
Security row
Since early July academics have been on strike in Sri Lanka. They denounce government plans to partially privatise a tertiary education system that has always been state-funded and free.
They want an end to what they say is political meddling in campus life. They want much more spent on education overall and they are demanding a salary increase.
The government has now responded by closing down 13 of Sri Lanka’s 15 state-funded universities, apart from their medical faculties, with no indication of when they might reopen.
They have also accused academics of trying to topple the government.
"Their [the trade union’s] aim is to create instability and a political crisis leading to a regime change, we guess," higher education minister SB Dissanayake said.
Military training
The government says it has already agreed to five of the academics’ six main demands. But the spokesman for the academics’ main union, Mahim Mendis, told the BBC this simply wasn’t true.
He said that the "politicisation and militarisation" of universities must end. At the moment, he said, ministers were appointing their own loyalists to top university posts.
"To suggest we want regime change is frivolous. You need to understand, Futa [the union] includes academics from all political parties. This is a national struggle," he added.
He also denounced an edict compelling universities to use security companies run by the ministry of defence and he criticised a two-week programme of military-led training which all university entrants now have to undergo.
Secondary education has also been in turmoil here, with a large-scale scandal involving incompetence in the marking of school-leaving exam papers.
Sri Lanka University Teachers Struggle for Pay Hike - Trade Union Action by the FUTA
http://www.sacw.net/article2098.html
Compulsory training of university entrants by the military risks perpetuating the troubles of divided Sri Lanka
by Rohini Hensman
http://www.sacw.net/article2147.html
