Advisable step on higher education

We could be accused of grossly understating the case if we say that the Lankan higher education sphere has been mismanaged as never before. It has been increasingly evident over the past several months that not very much insight and foresight has been going into the planning and systematization of work in this most vital area of national life. The Z score issue and questions flowing out of it alone should indicate that the observer is not wrong in concluding that 'things are falling apart' in the administration of higher education in particular, but our hope is that 'the centre' would from now on be in a position to 'hold' things together.

This hope derives from the report that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has appointed a special committee to probe current issues in higher education and put things right. Hopefully, the remedial measures would come fast because there is a vast number of students who have just completed the Advanced Level Examination most successfully who are suffering great distress of mind over their hopes of going in for higher education being dimmed. Our earnest hope is that the expected report would be implemented expeditiously and not allowed to gather dust in some easy-going bureaucrat's filing cabinet.

We also hope that the best minds would be put on the job. This country is not lacking in people of ability who are of an independent disposition and of great clarity of intellect who are not being sufficiently made use of.

We urge that these persons be selected carefully, even if they are in retirement, and given the responsibility of evolving once and for all, a system of higher education administration, for instance, which would stand the test of time.

Ad-hocism has been this country's greatest drawback in policy planning and implementation in a number of spheres, including education and higher education. This sorry state of affairs must end and perceptive, durable policies, which would stand the test of time, need to be introduced which would help in stemming the rot swiftly.

One is befuddled as to how the criteria for university entrance, for example, could be allowed to change so rapidly over a relatively short time span. From what could be gathered, there has not only been no forward planning, but the issue of admission standards has been handled with a degree of carelessness, which is not admissible in a modern society where higher education is treated with near reverence.

From what could be gathered, despite Sri Lanka's long years as a practicing democracy, not much thought has been put into the most vital matter of institutional development.

There is no need for committees and other such bodies to put things right or initiate reform measures in our multiple public spheres if the senior public servants, including ministers, knew their jobs and are conscientious. After all, all such new committees and bodies that are brought in as trouble-shooters, once issues are mishandled, cost the public very much more than a pretty penny.

We are not quarreling with the decision to appoint the special committee to put things right in the higher education field, but cannot help but note with regret that the officials originally put on the job were not in a position to 'deliver the goods.' Nor will we be right in singling out only higher education as an area that is in need of correction with thoroughgoing clinical precision and surgical sharpness. There are numerous other issue areas, such as, the petroleum industry and its administration, where there has apparently been no institutional development.

Public policy in any field of enterprise cannot be subjected to overnight, ad-hoc changes. This is a lesson this country is yet to learn. Public policy must be formulated on the basis of national needs and legitimate interests, and it is not conceivable how these factors could change wildly with, apparently, more than a whiff of whimsicality.

So, we need to begin at the beginning. We need to have the systems and institutions in place to handle public policy with a high degree of forward thinking and insight. Needless to say, these structures should have the 'best brains' and the most competent personnel. If these conditions are operative the possibility of erring would be minimal.