Looking back at all the violence that has taken place in the Universities here in Sri Lanka during the last 25 years one wonders whether we as a society, collectively value free education ? What is the real cost of education? Can we afford to give it free to all? To every child from grade 1- 12? Will any government have the guts to pull the plug? or at least limit it to a certain extent?
Make room for the voice of children
During the last decade alone saw millions of children all over the world who were traumatized by war. A 30 year civil war in Sri Lanka ended in May 2009 and we are now celebrating one year of peace. Yes it is hard to believe that one year has gone but nothing much has changed for the children who faced the full brunt of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
We adults must ask serious questions with regard to the world we have left behind for them.
For starters shall we make room for the voice of children?
Shall we listen to their questions and find out what they have to say about their world?
When a child says ” excuse me …” shall we stand to attention and ask them what they want for whether we like it or not we will have to hand over the world to them
Continuing Education and Professional Development Programme is a must for policy planners and public administrators
Today in Sri Lanka we have imported and “canned” MBA programmes which are conducted by educational institutes and the programmes who target professionals on the lines of career development and enhancement. However these training programmes and high cost courses may have little relevance to our own environment. There is no doubt that the courses are packed with theoretical knowledge but the content may or may not benefit an individual who is operating under distinctly different working environment. In the case of our Institute we have gathered a wealth of knowledge and experience in the area of development.
At Marga we have done over 1500 studies during the last three decades which cover subjects such as development, children, women, youth, population, migration, education, heath, housing policy, human rights, ethnic studies, agriculture, poverty, employment, regional corporation etc. We see an opportunity to come up with various short duration courses on development studies and public policy making use of our knowledge and our current network of social scientists, which would benefit not only the public administrators and potential policy makers but also those in the diplomatic sector, INGO’s, NGO’s as well as the private sector.
Learning and training is a continuing process. We believe it is a cycle. What we have learned we must impart and when we impart it to the correct people and through systematic analysis the key learning could be implemented for development.
Is Education the key to overcome poverty?
At the recent Marga Survey on poverty it was clearly seen that households where husbands and wives who were educated ( gone through secondary education) were prone to come out of poverty faster. This is not rocket science though but it shows that access to information and knowledge about various services were high among these householders and therefore they ” knew” what to do in a given situation. Furthermore these householders valued education so much so that they provided all the facilities for their children to pursue studies. The second generation in these particular cases were educated enough to get into the formal sector and therefore brought in a stable and consistent monthly income.
However the social values must be further studied to see whether children break away from parents soon to form their own family thus leaving the ” older” family unit vulnerable to poverty . There were cases where young people who got tiertiary eduaction who couldn’t find suitable employment . So education has not helped in these situation. So the question is whether education per sae helps communities to overcome poverty. Please post your comments
The plight of internally displaced people in the North.
We cannot ignore the fact that the situation is grave and living conditions of the IDP’s are pathetic. Civil society groups are imploring the government to relocate over 250,000 people almost immediately. However the state of affairs in these camps are quite complex and there doesn’t seem to be a simple solution. But is there? According to the law of probabilities the authorities say that there could be a fair percentage of LTTE cadres and supporters within these camps. Even if the percentage is 10 we are looking at over 25,000 direct LTTE carders and collaborators. According to informed sources there are weapons that are buried in the jungles of Vanni. The level of frustration among the IDP’s is rising every day they are within the camp. Should they be allowed to leave immediately? How soon is soon? Are we all sitting on a time bomb here?
Consumer rights and protection.
We say that our society has become market driven and customer dictates in the end. Slogans regarding customer care and service are often displayed at various business establishments. Yet what is the actual culture in Sri Lanka? Do you think that the rights of consumers are protected adequately? Price marking and expiry dates are closely watched by authorities. But is this sufficient to maintain the rights of consumers with regard to standards of quality of a product or service? Obviously not. What has been your experience?
Empowering the people to ensure good governance.
The principles of good governance and democracy are not totally unknown factors to the citizens of Sri Lanka. With a high literacy rate that is over 90% an average Sri Lankan is aware what good governance is. However the question remains regarding empowering the constituents. How can we hold those in office accountable? What is the exact role of civil society in Sri Lanka in this burning issue?
War is still raging in the hearts of the Tamil Diaspora.
We have defeated the terrorists in Sri Lanka and reclaimed the land which we lost in the 1980’s and 1990’s as the result of the separatist war that raged for almost 30 years. The LTTE as we all know was supported and funded by thousands Tamils living outside the country. The aspiration to set up a separate Tamil State has not died a natural death with the death of Prabakaran. One needs to take a brief look at various websites, blogs to understand this. Peace and reconciliation must take place within and without. The question is whether we should defeat the very ideology of separatism or whether we should win them over? What do you recon the role of the civil society should be in this issue? How can we bring about peace and reconciliation with the Tamil Diaspora?
Violence at the seat of learning.
We live in a blessed country where every individual has the right to education despite his or her background, class or creed. University education can be obtained by anybody hailing from any part of Sri Lanka as long as they have attained the sufficient marks and Z score for entrance. However one wonders whether society in general values Free Education as it should be valued. Politicization has corrupted this very blessing today. Most of the Student Unions in universities are influenced and operated by political parties. Parents send their children to universities here in Sri Lanka where the standards are set so high that a degree from such university is recognized anywhere in the world. But all hope and aspirations are sometimes dashed on the ground when their children are caught up in the violence within universities.
Should the authorities ban “ragging” in universities? Do you think it is time for us to put pressure on the entire political party system so that they would take their hands off universities? Or will violence still prevail in other forms because it is an extension of frustrations that students are subject to? Are they bringing in a form of “problem solving” (which is violence) that they are used to even from their home? How can we stop violence at the seat of learning?