Jennings' lifelong dream fulfilled
The Road to Peradeniya An Autobiography
Author: Sir William Ivor Jennings
Lake House Investments Ltd, Colombo
Pages 276
Review: Prof. Wiswa Warnapala
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY: It was Ian Goonetilleke's involvement in the
preparation of this edition of the autobiography of Sir Ivor Jennings
which prompted me to write this review on The Road to Peradeniya; it was
some years back that Ian Goonetilleke edited The Kandy Road of Sir Ivor
which was published in 1993 to mark the Golden Jubilee of the University
of Ceylon, and this unusual manuscript was presented to the university
library by Jennings before vacating his post as Vice Chancellor in
January, 1955.
Ian Goonetilleke, with his wide experience, in editing manuscripts of
this nature, undertook the task of editing Jennings' autobiography The
Road to Peradeniya and Ian undertook this during the last phase of his
life.
Ian Goonetilleke was, undoubtedly the doyen of Sri Lankan
bibliographical studies, and he, posthumously, needs to be congratulated
for undertaking the task of editing this autobiography, the very title
of which shows the nature of Jennings' involvement in the establishment
of the University of Ceylon, and the admiration with which the project
was completed.
Many interesting details pertaining to the planning and construction
of the university, including its buildings, halls of residence, the
faculty buildings, landscaping and even locations where trees are to be
planted, are discussed in his autobiography.
Such meticulous care has been taken in planning the setting of the
Campus. This was perhaps one reason why he called his autography, The
Road to Peradeniya, which, for all graduates and teachers who spent
their student and academic careers at Peradeniya, is compulsory reading
in order to refresh their memories as to the scenic beauty and the
intellectual atmosphere of the Peradeniya Campus.
I myself spent nearly 35 years of my adult life at Peradeniya-very
much inside the Campus-and this work of Jennings gave me the opportunity
to recollect and recount the experiences and reminiscences of the place
both as an undergraduate and as a member of the academic community for
more than three decades.
Peradeniya still remains the best place in the world, and Jennings,
referring to this aspect, states in page 183 that 'there is not the
slightest doubt that if the university is worthy of its location it will
be one of the finest small universities in the world. I should feel sure
of my own judgement in the matter even if the whole world denied it."
He also produces quotation from a Swiss professor who, having visited
Peradeniya, wrote a letter to Jennings where he says that 'the site of
this new highest school of your country as well as its architectural
shape at large and in detail, aroused my enthusiasm and almost envy.
There is nothing like it in Continental Europe'. No wonder that there
was a massive battle to decide on the site of the university, the Battle
of Sites, about which present day Vice Chancellors know nothing.
Though the present generation, including some Vice-Chancellors - I
hear of a foolish Vice Chancellor trying to lease the land around the
Campus to a Company for some money, - have failed to see the importance
and the educational utility of this great seat of learning, which
according to Jennings, was to provide the island with the sort of
university which her independent status requires and, the intelligence
and good humour of her people deserve (page 184) Jennings wanted to
develop a tradition in the university itself in order to make it a
fraternity of masters and scholars engaged in the advancement and
dissemination of knowledge and the production of young men and women
with personality and judgement.
Lofty objectives
One can ask the question whether such lofty objectives have been
realized; it was true that such achievements were possible in the
initial phase when the University was to cater to - 1,600 students, but
with the subsequent expansion, which became inevitable due to
educational and social changes, interfered with the original plans in
the areas of intellectual activity and academic standards.
It maintained the vital features of a centre of excellence, and the
institution, though it has begun to deteriorate due to a wide variety of
factors, could still be salvaged with proper academic leadership and
with a resurrection of the intellectual life of the community.
My learned friend, Prof. K. N. O. Dharmadasa, in a recent talk, saw
mono-ingualism as the sole reason for the visible decline in the
intellectual life of the universities, and this, in my view, explains
only a part of the problem.
Jennings, in his article 'Universities in the Colonies, which was
published in Political Quarterly (Vol. 17, 1946) argued for elitist
universities and such educational institutions cannot be sustained in a
country where free education exists.
Though we have deviated from that kind of position where university
education was the sole monopoly of the privileged elite of the colonial
period, the expansion of the system should not carry along with it the
destruction of the academic standards.
Dr. N. M. Perera, writing a review of Jennings's Constitution of
Ceylon (1949) to the University of Ceylon Review (UCR), stated that
Jennings was an expert in omniscience, and his autobiography amply
demonstrates that he was an individual who wanted to dabble in different
fields of activity.
In his period in Sri Lanka, which ran to nearly 15 years, Jennings,
in addition to his work as the Vice Chancellor whose major assignment
was the construction of an independent residential university, got
involved in public policy making and constitution making at a crucial
period of Sri Lanka's political history.
It was perhaps such involvements which prompted to describe Jennings
as an expert in omniscience.
Jennings started his academic career at the University of Leeds, and
his first publication was on Local Government, and we all know that the
subject of Local Government does not attract good scholars.
It was during this period that he began collecting material for his
seminal work, Cabinet Government which still remains the authoritative
and definitive work on the subject. Several leading writers have written
on the subject; one such person is John P. Mackintosh whose work,
though, refers to latest issues, cannot be compared with that of
Jennings's Cabinet Government, which, from the point of view of its
analysis and description, still remains the best work on the subject.
It is interesting to read what Jennings says with regard to the
publication of this work, and how he went round the second hand book
shops in Leeds looking for books related to the main theme of his book.
Cabinet Government was published in 1936 and within two years, he was
able to produce Parliament which again, is a seminal work on the
subject. Jennings thought that this was a better book though it
contained less original material.
In my view, both these publications - Cabinet Government and
Parliament are monumental works which gave Jennings a reputation as a
scholar and he is certain to be remembered, as the author of these two
definitive works on two important institutions of British Government.
Pioneering contribution
Jennings made a pioneering contribution to political studies and no
such attention has been paid to this aspect in his autobiography. One
cannot expect a person of the calibre of Jennings to write on his own
productions because he was pre-occupied with the events such as the
building of the university and the making of the Constitution.
Some reference has to be made to such studies as Constitution on
Ceylon (1949) and the Economy of Ceylon (1951), numerous articles were
published on various aspects of the politics of the island and he -
pioneered the study of elections by writing a pioneering piece on the
General Election of 1947.
In addition, to his active role in the area of constitution-making,
he was involved in civil defence work during the war and it was during
this period that he came to know Sir Oliver Goonetilleke who later
became a key player in negotiating the independence deal.
He saw in Sir Oliver an extraordinary man capable of managing any
important situation, and Jennings's association with Sir Oliver began at
the Civil Defence Department.
The chapter on War Service gives a brief description of his work in
the Civil Defence Department. It was during this period that Jennings
began discussing political and constitutional issues of the day with Sir
Oliver who was then advising D. S. Senanayake on the constitutional
issues.
Jennings writes (page 128) that 'I was asked for advices about many
of them and especially about the most important of all, the attainment
by Ceylon of independence.' According to Jennings it was this
triumvirate - D. S. Senanayake, Sir Oliver Goonetilleke and Jennings -
which planned the strategies to obtain independence in 1948.
I expected more details in the Chapter XI on Constitution-making but
most of it appeared in the book titled Constitution of Ceylon. Jennings,
in fact, says that his purpose is not to conduct a post-mortem,
Jennings, as he explains in this chapter, was the person behind the
defence agreements, and this is what he writes.
"It was apparent to us in 1942 that Ceylon could never provide
herself with ships, aircraft, tanks and equipment generally required for
her own defence. Britain needed to defend Ceylon in her own interest.
Ceylon needed British assistance. It seemed obvious that a deal was
possible.' This was an indirect support for a defence agreement. He says
that 'Declaration of 1943' was given to him by D. S. Senanayake and he
wanted him to study and comment on it.
As Jennings says, the aim seemed to be to give Ceylon internal
self-government while retaining defence and external affairs in the
hands of the Governor and the Secretary of State.
Jennings, justifying this stand, says that 'Ceylon was a small
country lacking the resources to provide for its own defence and having
no experience in the handling of foreign affairs'.
Cultural desert
It was the defence agreements which subsequently interfered with the
conduct of an independent foreign policy even after the attainment of
independence, and the charge was that freedom fell short of full
political freedom.
It was this which gave the left wing forces in the country to advance
the slogan that freedom was fake one. Declaration of 1943, according to
Jennings, was an honest attempt to find a solution to a difficult
problem.
Jennings, as in the Constitution of Ceylon (1949) gives credit to
both Sir Oliver and D. S. Senanayake for their main role in getting the
independent status for the country.
This autobiography of Jennings, The Road to Peradeniya covers the
period 1903 to 1965, and it came to be published after nearly 40 years,
during which, period most of his assertions and judgments have undergone
a massive transformation.
He spent nearly 15 years in Sri Lanka, and it was a creative period
of his excellent academic career, and he, as his autobiography
graphically mentions, made his mark in many a field in Sri Lanka.
He was opposed to certain trends in Sri Lanka at that time; for
instance, he opposed the introduction of the Free Education Scheme by C.
W. W. Kannangara, the use of Swabasha as the medium of instruction and
he despised the use of the national dress. He, at one stage, described
Sri Lanka as a cultural desert.
Such statements invited, both criticism and controversy but Jennings
loved to thrive on controversy. Such statements of his were born out of
his intellectual arrogance, and it showed that Jennings was getting
ready to oppose the emerging forces of nationalism, the forces
associated with cultural awakening and the forces of the impact of de-colonisation
which took the post-colonial State of Sri Lanka in a different
direction.
Though Jennings could not stop those forces of the newly emergent
State, he, through his autobiography and several of his publications on
Sri Lanka, needs to be remembered for his outstanding contribution to
the development of the University of Peradeniya as the main seat of
higher learning in the country.
His concept of the university is no more, and the universities, in
the context of the social and economic changes, have to reappraise
themselves to look for new avenues of change.
There is yet another vital reason for which Jennings needs to be
remembered; he made an indelible mark on the constitutional process of
the country. He played a key role in the transfer of political power and
in the construction of a new constitutional order.
He failed to recognise the progressive content of the 1956 political
change and he over-exaggerated the populist character of the change and
described it as communal.
His contribution to Sri Lanka, though still subject to controversy,
could be resurrected by reading The Road to Peradeniya and the very
title shows that Jennings always considered the University of Peradeniya
as his monumental contribution to the development of Sri Lanka as a
modern nation. |
