Educational co-operation between Sri Lanka and India

Text of speech delivered by Minister of Higher Education Prof. Wiswa Warnapala at the Moulana Azad Day on December 17, 2009.

It is indeed a pleasure to be here today on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Moulana Kalam Azad who is considered the architect of the modern system of education. The purpose of the function is to mark the International Students Day, and it was through the Sri Lanka-India academic exchange several hundred odd Sri Lankan students were able to enjoy higher educational opportunities in prestigious academic institutions in India.

Many of those beneficiaries, who are in attractive professional positions, are present here at this function which has been dedicated to the memory of the greatest educationist of India. Therefore it would not be inappropriate if I make use of this opportunity to speak a few words of the illustrious career of Moulana Abdul Kalam Azad, and at the same time I would like to touch on the Sri Lanka-India relations in the sphere of Higher Education.

Let me first deal with Moulana Azad, whose birth anniversary is being celebrated to mark the International Students Day, and it is in this context that one can speak on both education and student solidarity through which international understanding could be promoted among countries for both peace and stability.

Indian nationalist movement was a colourful political movement which produced a galaxy of great leaders, who, in the course of the illustrious political careers, contributed for the emergence of India as a great nation.

Moulana Azad was one such leader who derived immense intellectual inspiration from such great stalwarts of the nationalist struggle like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, both of whom are considered as the architects of modern India.

It was this intellectual relationship and the inspiration which he derived from the historic nationalist movement, in the end, culminated in his appointment as the Minister of Education of Independent India (1947-52). In the period 1952-58, he also functioned as the Minister Education, Natural Resources and Scientific Research, and the expanded focus of this Ministry offered him an ideal opportunity to formulate public policy in a number of crucial areas.

Commitment

His commitment to scholarship and his belief in the need to utilize knowledge to change the face of a country helped him to evolve educational policies in the first decade after independence. He, as Dr. C. W. W. Kannangara of Sri Lanka who founded the social demand model of education under which education was made free from kindergarten to the University, advocated a national system of education with free primary education.

Moulana Azad laid the foundation for the growth of higher institutions of learning. As Dr. C. W. W. Kannangara, Moulana Azad raised the issue of a national system of education under which access to education was made free and he rejected education on the basis of class, caste, race or creed. In other words, both these visionaries in education - Dr. C. W. W. Kannangara and Moulana Azad - advocated access to quality education.

It was on the basis of his ideas that the Right to Education Bill, which sought to make free and compulsory education a fundamental right, was introduced in India. Moulana Azad once stated that the wealth of the nation is not in country’s banks but in primary schools.

What a philosophic statement, the meaning of which was that a country could be built through education. He, through his own ideas on the philosophy of education, advanced new concepts with regard to the nature of the school system.

In the 21st century, we are discussing the importance of knowledge in society, and it was Moulana Azad, through his philosophic ideas, anticipated the arrival of the knowledge society. He, therefore, stood for a learning society through liberal and modern education which came to be influenced by certain intellectual traditions in the Indian culture.

Among the institutions he established for the purpose of popularizing traditional, cultural education, Sangeet Natak Academy (1953) Sahitya Academy (1954) and Lalit Kala Academy (1954) stood prominent and they made a notable contribution in the field of literature and art in India.

He saw the absence of a cultural context in the system of education during the British period, and this trend was arrested with the establishment of institutions responsible for cultural education. He looked at education from a very different perspective; he saw its total impact on a society, a society which is total transformation.

He therefore, advocated a comprehensive system of education, and it was to include girls’ education, vocational education, agricultural education and technical education. In the sphere of higher education, he established the University Grants Commission in 1956 by an Act of Parliament for the disbursement of grants and maintenance of standards in the Indian Universities.

It was to consist of a few eminent persons with considerable experience of university administration and its main function was to exercise general supervision over the allocation of grants to universities from public funds. All grants to universities by the Central Government were to be made through the University Grants Commission.

The UGC is a Commonwealth device similar to the UGC of the United Kingdom established in 1919. In the case of Sri Lanka, we followed the same pattern and established a UGC in 1978 with the central responsibility for co-ordination and determination of standards in institutions of higher education. The architects of the UGC in Sri Lanka have derived inspiration from the experience of the institution in India.

Tradition

The tradition is that Sri Lanka, at all stages of her development, came to be influenced by the developments in India. Indian nationalist movement had an influence on the Sri Lankan nationalist movement. This is a vital aspect of our history, and this was particularly true in the area of higher education.

The modern institutions of university education came to be founded with the Indian Universities Act of 1857, under which the Universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras came into being. During this period, these Universities were constituted on the general pattern of the University of London. In other words, they functioned as examining bodies and the institutions affiliated to them fulfilled the teaching function. This power of affiliating colleges to a University vested not in the Universities but in the Government.

Even the Acts of 1882 and 1887, under which Punjab and Allahabad Universities were established, followed the Act of 1857 which recognized the University as an examining corporation. In Sri Lanka the creation of a university was not envisaged during this period, and the need for higher education was settled by sending few youths to England for higher education.

For instance, Governor Fredrick North proposed to send two youths from the state schools every year to study at a British University; such scholars who went to Britain in the period 1812-1834 were to be ordained as Christian ministers.

What was intended was to form a nucleus of a class ‘attached to their country by birth and to England by education’. One major objective of this kind of education was to create an English-speaking elite loyal to the colonial master. With the expansion of universities in India, the imperial policy with regard to higher education in Sri Lanka underwent a change, and students were encouraged to go to universities in India.

Educational

The educational co-operation between Sri Lanka and India began during the colonial period, and today it has reached a high level of development. The leading Government school, established in 1835, was affiliated to the University of Calcutta in 1859. Through this relationship, Sri Lankan students were able to obtain a Bachelor’s degree within a period of five years. All those students who got themselves registered at the University of Calcutta were external students.

Most students were registered either at the University of Madras or the University of Calcutta; it was said that so many failed the BA because most students were external students. In the early part of the 19th century, the Government of Sri Lanka continued to depend on overseas institutions to meet the needs for higher education.

The students interested in a medical qualification, got training at Bengal Medical School in Calcutta, and the first batch of students trained at this school joined the Medical Services in 1848. It was only in 1870 that this practice was abolished after the establishment of the Ceylon Medical College in 1870.

It was during this period that certain members of Legislative Council began to question the wisdom of affiliation to Indian Universities, and a Sub-Committee of the Legislative Council recommended that the affiliation of colleges with the University of Calcutta should be discontinued.

Certain aspects of the Calcutta University examination were criticized saying that ‘it was the most pernicious system of instruction, namely cramming’. It was in this background that the Ceylon University Association was formed in 1906 and it was this association which began to clamour for a fully fledged university in Sri Lanka.

With the establishment of the University College in 1921 and the University of Ceylon in 1942, the Indian scholars came to Sri Lanka to teach at the University. This was yet another important area of educational co-operation. So many Indians came to teach in our secondary school and most of them were science and maths teachers.

Most of the university men who came during this period were in Humanities and Social Sciences and they enriched the intellectual life of Sri Lanka in the early phase of university education in the country. P. J. Thomas, B. Das Gupta, K. P. Mukerjee, K. P. Sinha, N. K. Sarkar and Prof. H. C. Ray were some leading academics who taught at the University of Ceylon and they pioneered the Sri Lankan research enterprise as well.

Relationship

This kind of academic relationship remained within the Sri Lankan Universities till the 1970s and thereafter the relationship was largely on the basis of post-graduates and under-graduates.

It is the scholarship program, both at the post-graduate and under-graduate level, that has kept this relationship going, and the educational co-operation between Sri Lanka and India is now an important aspect of the bilateral relations between the two countries.

The large number of recipients of the scholarships from India, who are present here today, amply demonstrate the nature of the educational co-operation, and the Ministry of Higher Education, which administers the program of educational co-operation, wish to thank the Government of India for its support, with which Sri Lanka can further enhance its human resources.

In 2009/10 academic year, the Indian government has given Sri Lanka 40 under-graduate scholarships and 14 post-graduate scholarships, and this has now become an annual feature. In addition, several hundred of Sri Lankan students are studying in the universities in India.

Both countries are making use of the higher educational opportunities to accelerate the process of economic and social development in our respective countries.

In concluding my speech on this important occasion, I would quote Rajendra Prasad, the former President of India, who, speaking on the concept of the university, had this to say ‘Evidently, it is not possible to provide a job for every graduate that our universities turn out. The aim of a university is not to produce men and women fit for the services only.

The primary purpose of a university is to equip the mind of a young scholar so that he can play his part in the great national battle against our three enemies - poverty, ignorance and illiteracy. Our country is potentially rich, but it needs properly educated and trained men to develop her resources.’