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‘Govt. must listen to the people democratically, not stifle opposition militarily’

04 Aug 2021

  • FUTA President Prof. Banneheka discusses the struggle underway to prevent militarisation of education
By Shahaen Vishak The proposed General Sir John Kotelawala National Defence University (KNDU) Bill has come under fire from all angles – professional associations, parliamentarians, and even the public – and leading the charge has been the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA), through the People’s Movement Against Militarisation of Education. Engaging in awareness campaigns, lobbying efforts, and protest action, this movement has pushed through an uphill climb to ensure the proposed Bill does not see enactment. While these efforts are still underway, with a protest scheduled to be held in Colombo today (5), the movement saw a small victory yesterday (4) when State Minister of National Security and Disaster Management Chamal Rajapaksa noted in Parliament that the debate and vote on the Bill had been postponed to next week, while various parties across the political divide suggested amendments to be made. In an interview with The Morning, FUTA President Prof. S. Banneheka explained what FUTA aims to accomplish and how it plans to set about achieving this. Following are excerpts from the interview. Judging by the decision not to vote on the Bill in Parliament, FUTA has been somewhat successful in its actions against the KNDU Bill. Would you say you have achieved the desired result? They haven’t totally withdrawn it, so it is not exactly the desired result. But in a way, they have got the message, and some of the people we lobbied were instrumental in making sure this decision was taken. From what we heard, there were a lot of arguments, with a lot of government ministers and MPs speaking against it. But the amendments suggested by several parties, including the SLFP (Sri Lanka Freedom Party), are not what we wanted. Tinkering with the Bill and bringing about ad hoc amendments will not do. The basic demand we have is that there should be a clear demarcation between military education and civilian education. Unless that amendment is made, anything else is not acceptable. From what I saw, the amendments are very diluted, and they don’t help; our basic argument remains. Amendments like having more civilians in the governing body are not going to help. Any amendment should separate military and civilian education – that is the bottom line, and that is the very basis of our movement. We will continue with our trade union action until this happens. What are the specific objections FUTA has to the KNDU Bill? What we object to most is the provision for the militarisation of education. In addition, there is an element of “commodification” of higher education. I don’t want to use the term “privatisation” here. Those are the two main issues. Basically, FUTA and also the FUTA-led People’s Movement Against Militarisation of Education chiefly object to those. How exactly does FUTA envision that this proposed Bill will militarise education? This Bill creates the provisions, once this proposed university is established, to establish any other institutions in other parts of the country, whether military or non-military, faculties, campuses, any affiliated institutions, colleges, schools, etc. – basically, a network of institutions under this university. It will also give the authority to the KNDU to affiliate with any existing institutions, local or foreign, to recognise their programmes and offer degrees to students. This can create a sort of parallel space of higher education in the country outside of the existing state education system, where universities are controlled under the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978. It paves the way for a parallel network of institutions under the KNDU name, which comes under the Ministry of Defence. Thus, rather than militarising existing universities, it will create a parallel system – not just for higher education. It has the provision to start even in schools – of fee-levying institutions under the Ministry of Defence. This is a concern. One of the chief reasons put forward for bringing about this Bill was that there is a limited number of students that can gain entry to state universities, and there should be a space for them. But why should this come under the Defence Ministry? Is the Defence Ministry, or the military, the only solution we have to all the problems in the country? Engaging in civilian activities and making decisions for civilians is not a job for the military. In society, there is a clear-cut division between civilian life and military life, with different sets of rules, regulations, codes of conduct, etc. You cannot mix the two; they do not go hand in hand. We are a democratic country, and so, civilian life should be governed by the principles of democracy. Regarding the other main objection, is FUTA against the complete liberalisation of education? We believe in the free education system; we have relied on it for the last 75, nearly 80 years in this country. Like I said, what we are against is the commodification of education, where education institutions are set up as profit-making entities. We know that the state university system cannot currently cater to 100% of the requirement, so we need different mechanisms. But if we are going to introduce private universities to solve this problem, we have to ensure they are monitored in every aspect, from their curricula to their human resources, and even the fees they are going to charge. So you can’t totally liberalise it. You need some sort of hand in it, like the role played by the UGC (University Grants Commission), or even some sort of independent body to monitor and regulate these institutions. Even today, many of these private institutions do not come under the Ministry of Education; they have been registered as businesses, where most of them come under the Board of Investment (BOI). That is why I used the term “commodification” – they identify education as a commodity to be sold for a profit. That should not be the case. People argue by pointing out universities like Oxford and Cambridge that are fee-levying institutions, but these are non-profit organisations that utilise the money earned to develop the institutions, promote research, and other activities. Also, these institutions have very strict selection criteria – even if you have the money, you can’t just get in unless you meet their strict criteria. Do our private universities or private education centres maintain such strict criteria? FUTA is not totally against having private higher education institutions, but we maintain that they must be monitored in every aspect by an independent body. Under the proposed KNDU Bill, the institution will decide on the courses, and it will also be responsible for monitoring quality of service delivery. But a service provider cannot simultaneously be the quality controller at the end of the day. This should be done by a separate entity. The existing state university system has a separate quality control mechanism. So if this proposed Bill is passed as it is, there is doubt over the quality and other aspects with regard to the university to be set up. So what are the actions you have taken so far against the proposed Bill, and how have they been received? We withdrew from online lessons for one day as a token; we did not announce any continuous strike action, because students have suffered a lot. We don’t want to keep our students at ransom. Unless it is absolutely necessary, we won’t resort to long-term strike action. But the message we gave the Government was that they should not push us into that position – they should not move ahead with the Bill without due consideration to the public outcry and opposition from various political parties, as well as professional associations, academics, students, and the public. We have spoken to various representatives from these parties and many of them agree with our stance. However, no formal stakeholder consultations have taken place. Although some politicians have said there should be a broader discussion with university teachers, nobody has officially invited us or asked us for our input on the issue. Different political parties can suggest various things, but they are looking at it from a political angle. So if the Government is unwilling to listen to the teachers and academics, it has to listen to the public. It will not be a defeat on their part. In a democratic country, if the Government listens to the public, it is not a failure or setback – it is proof that they are a democracy. The Government can score a point here; they should take it in that context. But this highlights the problem: Under military thinking, such a situation is seen as a defeat. The Government should think of it in a democratic way and listen to the public opposition to this Bill. How would you respond to allegations that the protest actions conducted are endangering the lives of the people amidst the raging pandemic? That is the argument being put forward to prevent any sort of dissent; they are abusing the pandemic. In every one of these protests, we have been maintaining health guidelines and bring only a representative group. We can mobilise people in the thousands or even more. We have shown that during the long march in 2012, but we are not doing that. We are not even asking our members to come to the street. We just take a nominal number of people to show their concern, representing different organisations. We ask protestors to wear masks and maintain health guidelines; we don’t want the Government to use that point to stop these activities. But if these issues get dragged on, the public can take things into their own hands and go out of control. I think that is what is happening with the school teachers’ struggle now as we see people are coming out in masses – this will happen if any issue is not solved and dragged on with. The Government has to understand how the people would think. Some might even think that “since we are anyway going to die; we might as well die fighting”. I hope these things would not go that far. So, we are trying to stick to the guidelines as much as possible, but there might be some point where things can get out of control if the Government is not going to listen to the public. That is the people’s power. So we are trying to stick to the guidelines as much as possible, but there might be some point where things get out of control if the Government is not going to listen to the public. That is the people’s power. So how will FUTA move forward? Are you considering a complete halt of teaching activities if your demands are not met? You have to understand that ceasing to teach is the most difficult decision a teacher can take. We know our students have been suffering, so stopping teaching entirely is the absolute last resort, and we are hopeful that the Government will not push us to that point; if they have any sense, they will listen to the people and get the message. We are willing to provide them our fullest support through a consultative process. But as of now, our plans haven’t changed. We will go ahead with the protest action we have planned in Colombo for tomorrow (today). Our only concern is the Covid situation in the country, and we are asking all participants to adhere to the guidelines.


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