Campus crisis

The Universities are at it once again. Hardly does a year pass without a campus exploding in violence. Not a single university in the country has been spared this malfeasance. Violence and indiscipline have become endemic in our institutions of higher learning throwing the future of our educated younger generation haywire.

Now it has become the turn of the Kelaniya University to seize the baton in this inexorable cycle of campus violence. If allowed to continue unchecked there is no knowing the extent to which the cancer would seep into society at large.

For if the cream of the educated could conduct themselves with such impunity it's impact on other layers of society is only predictable. It would not only see the collapse of the entire higher education system in the country but also spawn lawlessness and the general breakdown of the social structure.

According to reports tension at the Kelaniya University had been simmering for long between the student factions of the Arts and Science faculties before it came to a head a fortnight ago. Wednesday's clash was the result of the science faculty students obstructing an Arts festival organised by arts students. When the clashes went out of control the University authorities summoned the police who at one stage were compelled to fire tear gas. A large number of students were injured in the clashes with two of them hospitalised.

It was also reported the Dean of the Science faculty Prof Nalin de Silva was threatened by student groups. This too is familiar pattern during campus shindigs when the lecturers and deans become fair game.

The Kelaniya University is now closed indefinitely with the campus made out of bounds to the students. The country has been witnessing prolonged campus closures at various intervals with the 1989/90 second JVP uprising the worst period where universities in the country were completely paralysed.

There is no knowing the fallout of these prolonged closures in terms of the talent lost to the country. Today parents are reluctant to send their offspring to universities given the turmoil in these institutions of higher learning. These students inevitably end up following various courses or disciplines outside their general fields, which is a waste of toil and effort at gaining university entrance.

Students of affluent parents leave the country to pursue higher education overseas. Which begs the question as to why the State has to expend colossal funds to maintain our universities when they are for the most part closed or function is staccato spells.

Is this fair by the taxpayer? Today it is no secret that universities are veritable hot beds of radical politics where unscrupulous elements exploit student unrest to further their political projects. Student unrest itself is a subject that warrants deep study. Sociologists dwelling on this topic have detected a deep-seated frustration among student segments, which has its genesis in class and social deprivation.

Over the years University unrest followed a pattern where students rebelled against the ruling elite, which was extended to those students from privileged backgrounds in the campuses. This rebellion has been manifest in most of the campus upheavals in the past when even students of particular faculties considered elitist had been singled out for attacks. The inhuman ragging that swept the universities in the past too was part and parcel of this hatred directed towards these privileged sections.

All this though have plunged our university system into the abyss where no solution seems to be forthcoming. It is time that the Government takes a firm decision to end unrest in our seats of higher learning. If not the country will stand to lose by the brain drain that would naturally follow, the prolonged closure of our universities.

We cannot afford such a brain drain particularly at a time the country is poised to take off on a massive development drive with the end to terrorism and dawn of peace neigh.

The President has already sent out appeals to our professionals domiciled abroad to return to their motherland and be partners of the rebuilding and reconstruction process. However if there were exodus of the cream of our educated talent in the opposite direction this would only negate the President's well-meaning efforts.

A careful balance needs to be struck in tackling problems at our campuses. True, students are faced with multifaceted problems such as accommodation, inadequate high education bursaries, etc. There is also the feeling among some that their university degrees would not fetch them gainful employment which would gave them a secure place in society or upward social mobility.

Such students are in a state of drift and they become easy prey for sinister elements bent on sabotage. Banning political activity at universities is not the solution because campuses by their natural definition are the crucibles of dissent and ideological polemics where different opinion, ideologies and political views are given free rein to. The ideal way to stem the tide would be to create a conducive climate in all our universities that cater to the legitimate demands of the students and an assurance by the State that their labours would be honoured and recognised and not go unrewarded.

In short confidence building among our student fraternity would hold the key for stemming the tide of campus unrest.