A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Back to 500BC.
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Wednesday, July 5, 2017
A Realistic Approach To The SAITM Deadlock
The SAITM dispute
has become a Pandora’s Box. When one disputant agrees to a certain
position, another party contests it. One day it appears as if the matter
is getting solved at last, only to hear the next day that the
controversy has returned to square one.
This problem is best solved by going into first principles and firmly deciding who had the last say on the points in dispute.
1. Free education
The main point involved is the right to free education. It was granted by the Legislature. The GMOAand
other Tus may like FE and most of their members may be obliged to it
but they do not have the last word on it. Of course, they can influence
the Legislature to safeguard the vistas of free education. But it would
amount to revolt and rebellion to try to twist the arm of the
Legislature by taking the country and its invalids as hostages. Besides,
originally FE was granted from kindergarten up to the University. Its
extension into the University was an after-thought as students graduated
to that level.
It
is important to remember that there were two types of students under
FE, normal students and the less affluent who were selected by a
competitive scholarship exam. The former received only education free
but the latter received lodging and subsistence as well or their
equivalent. This distinction has been maintained through the University
with Mahapola Scholarships for the have-nots. A problem has arisen with
the slots available in the State Universities for medical students
becoming less than those who have qualified themselves to get into them.
The Government has three alternatives in dealing with them. They are,
a) Ignore the excess as it has been doing up to now.
b) Create
space for them in the State Universities. In this connection, it is
heartening to hear the Minister of Higher Education declaring that more
State medical colleges would be opened shortly
c) Until
‘b’ is fulfilled, the State should provide ways outside the Government
Faculties for those who have attained the required credits but are
outnumbered by the slots available within the State facilities. This can
be done by placing such students in private Medical Colleges at
Government expense or by arranging Bank loans for them.
2. Medical Standards
Solution
‘b’ presupposes standards being set down for medical education. This is
a matter for the Medical Council that has being hanging fire for some
time, paving the way for the present deadlock. Laying down the standards
enables a count to be taken of those who have satisfied the given
criteria at the University Entrance Examination. It is these students
who have to be provided for in the name of FE. The Government has so far
failed to create facilities for them within the establishment. If
it has not got the wherewithal to establish new facilities for them,
they can be accommodated in a private medical college that satisfies the
standards laid down by the MC.
Therein
lies the case for private medical colleges in Sri Lanka. FE does not
exclude fee-levying teaching institutions. Even at the advent of FE,
there were such institutions. As at now there are institutions coaching
paying students up to degrees in other sectors like engineering and
accounts. One wonders why only medical schools have to be free. Besides,
a ban on private medical colleges would not solve the problem. Under
such a restriction, affluent students are bound to join foreign medical
colleges causing loss of foreign exchange and possibly, a brain-drain to
the country. Establishing standardized fee-levying MCs here would solve
this problem and possibly earn foreign exchange for the country. Of
course there should be a control of the number of private MCs
established here and their quality. No one who has failed to obtain the
minimum credits prescribed by the MC should be allowed to get into them.
If not, some day we would be saddled with medical colleges producing
conductors. No Union has the right to dictate terms to the MC but they
have a right to present their case to it.
Nationalizing
the SAITM hospital is neither here nor there. One wonders how fair it
is to take over the institution in a country where there are hundreds of
other privately owned institutions. That it would help the owners is
beside the point. It would have been more appropriate for the Government
to undertake a management contract there to give clinical training to
the students who are stuck without such experience.
3. Lecture boycott by medical students
The
ongoing lecture boycott by the medical students appears to be an
impulsive self-defeating move. Of course, the parents have a democratic
right to get on a stage and demand what they consider to be their right.
But by getting their children also on the same stage, they tend to
while away a part of the prime of the youth of their issue. They should
really encourage their children to complete their studies as fast as
possible. Any time wasted on stages cutting lectures is a permanent loss
to their career. They have already lost nearly a year of their prime
cutting lectures and agitating in demonstrations. In the meantime their
counterparts at SAITM are stealing a march over them.
4. The Final Solution