Thoughts on vandalizing free education

Anuruddha Pradeep, a Political Science lecturer at Sri Jayawardenapura University, writing on the subject of education opined that ‘free education’ should be seen as part of our national heritage just like Sigiriya, Abhayagiriya and our ancient irrigation works. Abhayagiriya is an architectural wonder, a complex, evidence of a culture and civilization that a people can be proud of. So too Sigiriya. Free education has not stood the test of time, but it is certainly a feature of our society that is ingrained in the popular consciousness and one that has survived numerous blows.

‘Heritage’ somehow makes me think of things ancient, things that have been around so long that they are part of who we are. Things that which we do not desecrate. It is the last that made me dwell on this topic. Go to any archaeological site and you are likely to find signs of vandalism.

It is either pillage by invader, the marauders from across the Palk Straits, the ‘missionaries’ who did the work of the devil in the name of Jesus Christ and such, or by treasure-hunters of the past and of the present, and finally the scribbling in paint by those who like dogs feel compelled to mark presence or territory. Thinking of Anuruddha’s contention, I was wondering what kind of vandalism is perpetrated on that heritage site called free education.

Who really pillages ‘free education’? The easy answer is ‘The State’, which, some would have us believe, is a creature of capitalism and does the bidding of ‘capital interests’. Moves to privatize education have been initiated many times and by many people. Some have argued that the State just cannot afford to carry the education baby by itself.

Some have argued that if wastage and corruption were eliminated there would be enough money to make free education viable. Others would interject that education is not the only sphere into which money saved from ridding our institutions and society of corruption and wastage should be channeled.

It has occurred to me that the vandalism is not perpetrated only by those who want free education dismantled. Those who champion free education, whenever they act without responsibility, when they damage property in the name of defending rights to education, when they lose sight of the fact that someone is paying for their education and that this entails certain responsibilities, also pillage this aspect of our national heritage.

Indeed, I would say that each and every student who benefits from free education and does not acknowledge the fact and dedicate their lives to ensuring that the debt is paid back one way or another, in part or full (if possible), is guilty of vandalism.

Free education is the product of collective effort. It is the community that enables children to go to school and university and learn skills that can later help them secure gainful employment. Do we give back to this ‘collective’? If not, why not? Do we ask ourselves such questions?

Last week I came across Nihal Fernando’s book, Eloquence in Stone, an excellent collection of photographs of archaeological artifacts from the length and breadth of Sri Lanka, described and contexualized in language that complements with equal eloquence. I was flipping through the pages when I came across a quote. This is how Fernando described the effort of putting together these photographs:

‘There is a dream I have had for the last 15 years. I want to tell the story of this country and its people. I want to make people think about our past and what we are doing to it before it is too late.’

Flipped page. Came to ‘Kalinga Nuwara’ and a caption which describes how Nihal Fernando saw less and less archaeological artifacts each time he visited this place. That’s pillage. When we destroy these things we wound ourselves. When we steal a brick, we erase part of the historical record. We make it that much more difficult or even impossible to reconstruct the event, personality and architecture of the past. We thereby shatter the foundation of our present. We are left with shaky ground and this is not the ideal platform for any society to launch itself into better, more noble and more caring futures.

It is applicable to education as well, I think. While it is true that people with dubious and anti-Sri Lankan and pro-rich agendas want the entire system of free education dismantled, those who oppose such moves need to recognize that some of the damage is being caused by the champions of free education.

Visit the Peradeniya Library (Arts Faculty). This, I believe, is one of the most under-utilized libraries in Sri Lanka. If you don’t use the resources that are already available what right do you have to demand that the State cough up more money to give you facilities you do not have? If student activists vandalize walls, hostels etc, what moral right do they have to ask the State to allocate money to buy bricks, cement, sand etc to build additional hostels and laboratories?

I know for a fact that some students who claim that they are willing to lay down their lives to protect free education, hardly do the minimum amount of work necessary to justify their status as undergraduates. I know that while they are brave and noble when it comes to street fights with overzealous police officers, they are also cowards when it comes to defending the truths they subscribe to in open debate.

I have seen very little agitation among students groups when it comes to designing curriculum and rewarding teachers. Students are very well aware that professorships are being passed around as though they are ratakaju (peanuts) and that teacher, student and general public are being hoodwinked regarding the scholarly credentials of the ‘academics’. This too takes away from free education. It too is vandalism.

We tend to ask ‘what are you doing to...’ from other people. We rarely ask ourselves ‘what am I doing, what have I done?’ Somewhere, right now, someone is vandalizing free education. It might be you. It might be me. Shall we start thinking about this a little?

Tomorrow might be a tad too late, by the way.

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