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On February 14th fell the 91st birth anniversary of
Prof. J.E. Jayasuriya:
Paying homage to an icon in the education arena
Padma Edirisinghe
“The Third World countries need not permit their own past or the
image of the industrialised countries to dominate their vision. Let them
formulate for themselves a vision for a better future that is achievable
and let them be free in all directions.” (From Education in the Third
World:Some Reflections” by Prof. J.E. Jayasuriya.)
Since the author voiced that worthy wish much water has flown under
Lanka’s bridges. And he himself is no more. However, today a grateful
crowd gathers to commemorate his memory on his 91st birthday.
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Prof. J.E. Jayasuriya |
Hence it is but fitting to first trace the stages by which the
learned don rapidly gained fame as a 20th Century educationalist
exhibiting one of the most radical visions in the area of education in
our island by himself breaking free form shackles of a colonial thinking
in a very vital field.
Promising Student
We first see the promising student trailing behind his post master
father and wandering all over the island starting from the coastal and
picture - postcard town of Ahangama. A rolling stone gathers no moss,
they say. But in the different schools he attended as far as
Nawalapitiya of the highlands and including a missionary school in
Colombo this promising young student did gather moss.
It was a moss that was to shape his futuristic vision veering more
towards the interests of the proletariat than those of the bourgeoisie.
His famous 1961/1962 NEC report (as Chairman of the National Education
Commission) voices the grand sentiment that education is the birth right
of every child, a sentiment explicitly released by the United Nations
only decades later.
Subsequently we see the young man in different stages of his life,
but always on the academic trail, entering the university a first class
in the job market, becoming the founder head of Dharmapala Vidyalaya run
by the Buddhist Theosophical Society and then taking on the head post of
a central school in Matugama on the invitation of the then Minister of
Education, C.W.W. Kannangara, then on to the post of a lecturer at
Maharagama GTC, going on to the University of London to specialise.
He turns to join the staff of Dept. of Education in the University of
Ceylon. In 1952 the Arts Faculty of Colombo University shifts to Dumbara
hills and that same year he begins his long career as Professor of the
Deputy of Education. In fact he was the first Lankan to zoom to this
post which he held till 1972.
He opted to remain in the education field rather than join the Civil
Service that opened its doors to him. Civil servants can emerge in
numbers but concerned educationalists with an ear glued to the interests
of the common man and woman and child come few and far between. It was a
most fortunate decision for Lanka’s education scenario for he had his
set goals which he was willing to reach via many obstacles.
Obstacles
Ensuring educational opportunity to every child was his main goal and
that entailed a massive attempt at the removal of obstacles to achieve
this objective plus the courage of convictions that he exhibited in
plenty.
As head of the Dept. of Education in Peradeniya University in
addition to the delivery of his absorbing lectures on psychology and
other aligned subjects he brought in a number of innovations utilising
his post. Almost a new system of teacher training began to shape itself.
Teacher training at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels were
systematised by him.
The now popular Bachelor of Education course, which sets the sky as
the limit for eager young teachers, was a brain child of his. Though he
retired in 1971 from the Professorship he did not retire from the field
of education.
Global recognition came to him next when he was invited by UNESCO,
Bangkok to be its first Regional Advisor on Population education paving
way to work as an education consultant in the same field in far away
countries as Somalia and Sierra Leone. It was in the arena of
introducing new reforms and formulating a national policy of education
that he just excelled.
Approach
The 1961 reforms were his brainchild and signaled quite a new
approach. Their radical nature prompted attack by the next govt. that
came to power which the professor braved and even retaliated justly. Mr.
Eric J. de Silva in his 2003 Memorial Lecture puts this situation
succinctly by this statement. “It was clear by this time that policy
making in education was getting increasingly enmeshed in the web of
political party rivalry.”
Looking back on all that happened in the intervening years the
professor seems to have prophesied certain dooms, even hinging on the
emerging canker in the country ie. the communal violence about to erupt.
Insurgency
Through his incisive observations and peregrinations into the future
he would have foreseen even the clouds gathering to metamorphose into
the 1971 youth insurgency. The 1961 reforms advocated by this extensive
aims at equalising educational opportunities and even conjoining the
world of work and the school are indicative of his sensitivity to the
need of avert catastrophes that lay ahead.
That by birth he did not belong to the upper strata of Lankan society
looming in an ivory tower cold well account for his very radical
thinking in the field of education.
Probably this role overshadows many other areas he dabbled in, which
were no less important. One such area is the publication area. His
professional writing is almost astounding.
His books monographs, articles add to up to about 190 and span widely
differing areas as sociology, mathematics, psychology, statistics,
teaching of English, medium of instruction, adult education, educational
issues in Asia, teacher education, popular education etc. The graded
series of the mathematical books authored by him continue to be popular.
Among his books the voluminous book, “Educational Progress and
policies in Ceylon” is an eye-opener to the vast reading and research he
has indulged in. It deserves to be translated for use by Swabasha
students so that they could have access to the vast information stored
in it. The quotations are copious.
He can be easily dubbed the most prolific writer on education, in the
island. He wrote in Sinhala too to newspapers as Lankadeepa when the
going got rough on certain issues and the general population had to be
enlightened. Fire could erupt from the gentle human when necessary.
He was also the brain behind the standardisation of two intelligence
tests which became to be widely used. I myself joined the Diploma in
Education Course of his at the age of 23 since there were no service bar
periods then. Graduates had only to get through the entrance exam.
I used to watch with awe at the longs sums he worked on the
blackboard during the statistics period. The devoted teacher he was he
knew almost by intuition that I had a better aptitude for another
vocation. Though my surname had got changed he kept track on my
subsequent life and always encouraged me over the phone whenever some
scribbling of mine appeared in the press.
Personality
A few pages of my latest book, “Looking back and beyond” that I have
allotted for the professor, reveal not only some unexpected facets of
his personality but the acute concern he showed for his students.
In Mrs. Delicia Jayasuriya, in addition to his many academic fans,
the departed don would always find a candle to keep his memory alive.
Incidentally this happens to be the third tribute I have paid him via
press.
Never was there a time when I did not exist,
Nor you,
Nor all these kings,
Nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.
(Bhagavad Geetha: Sloka 2. 12)
Never would Professor J.E. Jayasuriya cease to be. Humans like him
are on the Road to Eternity.
(The writer is former Director, College of
Education).
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