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Nihal Cooray

All of us in the sphere of school education have still not got over the shock of Mahinda Ranaweera's death. His passing away on December, 10 last year at 71 draws a curtain on an educationist par excellence, a pioneer in science education, a creative thinker and an educational analyst of our time.

Mahinda Ranaweera

Mahinda had his early education at Seevali Madhya Maha Vidyalaya, Ratnapura and later at Ananda College, Colombo where he had a distinguished academic career which brought honour and distinction to the College and his teachers. He reached the pinnacle of his school education when he was awarded the gold medal for his brilliant performance at the University Entrance Examination.

His contemporaries both at Ananda and the University of Ceylon (Colombo) in the mid 50s included eminent scholars, scientists, medical specialists, outstanding civil servants and legal luminaries who excelled in their own fields of expertise here and abroad. Mahinda with a special degree in Chemistry combined with Mathematics chose the path of education for the benefit of the present and the future.

He later proceeded to follow a Master's Degree in Science Education at Teachers' College, Columbia University, New York. His professional competence in education was further strengthened by collaborative studies and research he carried out at the National Science Foundation, USA, Educational Policy Analysis and Planning Centre, Harvard University and Unesco Pilot Project for Chemistry Teaching in Asia, Bangkok.

Throughout Mahinda's professional career there were no short cuts or bureaucratic manipulations to get to the higher levels of the positions he held. He firmly believed that a position one holds only makes him aware of his limitations. I remember at a seminar for teacher educators he commented, "In education there can be hierarchies, but not levels, because education itself is the greatest leveller".

Mahinda's professional profile continuously emphasizes very clearly the contributory factor rather than the plums of the offices he held. He started as a secondary school science teacher, later Principal and a lecturer, Science Training College.

That was the initial phase. It was during the period between 1972 and 1981 he blossomed into the most productive phase of his career. He was picked up for the post of Director of Education in charge of Curriculum Development and In-service Teacher Education at the Curriculum Development Centre in the red brick building at Baudhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 7 where he was a key figure in the well-known trio that steered the education reforms of the early 70s with an amazing religious zeal. The other two were Kamala Peiris and D. A. perera.

They were trained and made for their tasks by Jinapala Alles, Dr. Premadasa Udagama and Mr. K.D. Ariyadasa. They were at the same time groomed, chiselled and given creative leadership by the two education Secretaries Eric J. de Silva and E.L. Wijemanne.

Mahinda's contribution at the Curriculum Development Centre pushed him further to the positions of Additional Secretary, Curriculum Development and Teacher Education, Ministry of Education and Specialist Consultant, Ministry of Education. In both of these positions he acted as the Senior Advisor on Educational Policy Initiatives and the implementation of all the foreign funded projects mainly the two World Bank projects and the ADB funded project. His involvement in the Basic Education Sector Programme of the GTZ at its early stages was very significant.

Mahinda rose to international stature when he was appointed to UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE), Hamburg in 1983 as the Senior Research Specialist and Deputy Director responsible for planning, initiating and coordinating research projects involving researchers in various countries. He also handled the task of preparing UNESCO project proposals and research designs.

His nine-year stint at UIE, Hamburg refashioned his insights and outlook in all educational issues especially those relating to Primary Education and Non-formal education. His duties in any educational activity had all the usual punch, panache and flair anyone would expect.

When a socially powerful group with vested interests put up a stubborn resistance to the teaching of science in the national language media, Mahinda took a bold and passionate stand to write and popularize science study materials in Sinhala in association with Dr. E.W. Adikaram.

The millions of schoolchildren who had no ready access to scientific knowledge through the medium of Sinhala, I am sure would recall with gratitude the popular weekly science radio programme 'Sithijaya' (Horizon) Mahinda relayed during the 1970s. The language he chose in his presentations had a lot of punch and flavour. I remember the students, teachers and even parents used to clamour again and again for the repeats of these broadcasts.

Mahinda was relentless in his pursuit of quality in everything he undertook personally or professionally. The ease and clarity with which he explained intractable issues in education did us proud in the midst of foreign specialists. Mahinda was in every sense a top role model for experienced as well as callow and budding professionals in education.

May Mahinda attain the supreme bliss of Nibbana.

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