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Opposition mounts to ‘Universities Act’ amendment

23 Jul 2021

  • Calculated attempt to bring KNDU under UGC: FUTA
  • IUSF questions lack of expert consultation
  • NPP to oppose ‘backdoor attempts’ to militarise/privatise edu
  • FSP raises concerns over ill defined ‘special purpose uni’
BY Pamodi Waravita The academic community, the undergraduate students body, and Opposition political parties condemned a recent Gazette notification on amending the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978, questioning whether this was a reactionary move to the backlash that arose against the General Sir John Kotelawala National Defence University (KNDU) Bill. A Gazette notification was issued by the Government on Tuesday (20), stating that Section 23 of the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978 will be amended to allow the Education Minister, in consultation with the University Grants Commission (UGC), to “establish a University for a specific purpose”. The parties that have expressed their opposition to the proposed amendment include the Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA), the Inter University Students Federation (IUSF), the National People’s Power (NPP) led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), and the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP). “This sudden and ad-hoc proposed amendment to the Universities Act appears to be a calculated move to bring the KNDU within the purview of the UGC. Reacting to the major public opposition building against the KNDU Bill, it appears that the Government is attempting to push ahead with its distorted project of mixing military and civilian education through this amendment,” said the FUTA. The FUTA further noted that the UGC does not have the capacity or the expertise to regulate a military establishment. “If the KNDU is brought within the purview of the UGC, it will result in a situation where the UGC’s authority is undermined and questioned. We have repeatedly seen how the military hierarchy is unwilling to submit to civilian authority, which is understandable as there is no consultative decision making process within a military structure. However, the Universities Act and the UGC follow a completely different model, which is the very antithesis of the military structure. They work through a democratic model based on consultation and compromise.” The FUTA also questioned what would happen to civilian study programmes that are currently being conducted by the Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) if it is brought under the UGC as a “specific purpose University.” Therefore, the FUTA urged the Government to refrain from using this amendment to the Universities Act to forcibly yoke a military institution into the civilian administrative structure of the UGC, and to instead, immediately restructure the KNDU so that it serves the Tri-Forces only as originally intended, and to transfer the current civilian programmes of study within the KDU to the existing university system. On the other hand, the IUSF, issuing a press release in this regard, stated that experts from the higher education field must be consulted if amendments to the Universities Act are to be made, adding that it is problematic that the Government is introducing an amendment without such prior discussions, in a hurried manner. Meanwhile, the NPP questioned the purpose of introducing an amendment to the Universities Act at a time when the Government is facing criticism over the KNDU Bill. “We have a problem with the timing of this amendment as we suspect that it is a reaction to the KNDU Bill debate and opposition to it. This is a knee-jerk reaction. There would be a big crisis in the education sector due to this amendment. We have no opposition to the KNDU being under the Defence Ministry but we oppose backdoor attempts to militarise or privatise the education sector,” said NPP Parliamentarian Dr. Harini Amarasuriya. The FSP also demanded more clarity from the Government regarding the amendment, raising concerns about the attempt to privatise education through this amendment. “The Bill does not define what a ‘special purpose’ university is, which leaves the door open for anything. It also allows the Education Minister to establish a ‘special purpose’ university through a gazette notification. However there is no mention of the syllabi, the student admission process, the quality of education, or graduation criteria, and it is stated that those will be decided based on the regulations brought in by the Minister. That does not tell us whether the students will have to pay for the education in this ‘special purpose’ university,” said FSP Education Secretary Pubudu Jayagoda. All attempts to contact the Education Minister Prof. G.L. Pieris and the Education Ministry Secretary Prof. Kapila Perera regarding the matter proved futile. The KNDU Bill has received widespread criticism from various quarters for its alleged threats to free education and the militarization of education. A range of demonstrations were staged throughout Colombo over the course of this month in protest over said Bill, which was tabled in Parliament on 7 July, where over 31 arrests were made. The Morning reported on Wednesday (21) that a workshop on the controversial KNDU Bill is to be held for all governing Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MPs on 2 August and that it will be taken up for vote in Parliament during the first week of August.  


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