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| Monday, 12 January 2004 |
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Hardy Advanced Technical Institute Ampara needs reviving Gal-Oya - Sri Lanka's pioneer development project was commissioned in the dry zone, since the attainment of independence in 1948. Certain aspects of its developments have been assisted through external aid under the Colombo Plan and United Nations agencies. In July 1955 Prof. Evan A. Hardy's services were made available to the Gal-Oya Development Board as Advisor on Technical Training. He identified that there is a dearth of Technically Trained Personnel who possessed the knowledge in the required Engineering fields to direct the work of the Gal-Oya Project. Thus the birth of "The Technical Training Institute" became a reality. Students from Colombo Plan Countries such as Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam were also trained along with the Sri Lankan students in the allied fields. Thus this Training Institute became and functioned as a Regional Training Center in Agriculture and other Engineering fields for the students from South-East Asian Countries. The full time residential courses of studies at the Institute were mainly limited to Middle Level Technicians in Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, Agricultural, Engineering, Irrigation, Highway Engineering, and surveying and Levelling. A distinctive feature of the Institute was its combination of theoretical instructions with "On the job" training. The classes were conducted for five and a half days. "On the job" training was made easier with the involvement of the Giant-Gal-Oya Project with resources such as hydro-electric power station, rice mills, carpentry work shops, water purification and distribution stations, sugar factory, civil, irrigation and road branche, and fully fledged mechanical work shops. The greatest tribute to the efficacy of professor's teaching is the fact that, so many of his past students, today hold high echelons in government departments, corporations and in the private sector. The most prowess is that many posses their own establishments. Turning point However, at this peak time when Professor Hardy was putting his final touches to uplift the training programs of the Institute, to reach the standard of a 'University College of Engineering' with a view to build up the Agriculture Course to achieve the same standard of the Course in the University of Saskatcewan, (his Alma Mater his untimely death occurred on the 4th December 1963 at the age of 73 years). Thereafter the standards came down rapidly with the taking over of this Institute by the Ministry of Technical Education, when they did not have the experience and the resources to handle an Institute of this Calibre. Ten years after having changed the name to 'Hardy Senior Technical Institute' the Ministry decided to have the first academic year of the NDP Civil, Mechanical and Electrical courses at the Institute and to continue with the second year at the Institute of Practical Technology, Katubedda, Moratuwa (now named as the University of Moratuwa) while the Agriculture Engineering Course continued for both first and second years. These problems were encountered due to the inability to attract suitable qualified personnel to fill the vacancies in the academic and administrative cadres, who have either left or gone on transfers during the transition period. Lack of incentives and other facilities contributed to this situation and hence the deterioration continued faster. To note that this great Institute which stood as a 'Load Stone Rock' in the Eastern Province in producing dynamic Engineering personnel to the country, coming to a verge of collapse has been a very pathetic situation, and very disappointing to the 'old Hardions'. As such the Hardy Alumni Association requests very earnestly from the authorities concerned, to rebuiled this Institute to the expected goals of Prof. Evan A. Hardy who toiled and sacrificed his life even though not a Sri Lankan for the betterment of the Technical Education and training in Sri Lanka. The Association would whole heartedly co-operate in whatever way it could, if called upon for assistance to restore the Institute to the state it was in sixties. - Colonel W. D. Samarasena Vice Patron, Hardy Alumni Association |
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