Country’s University education blossoming - President
Dharma Sri Abeyratne in Batticaloa
Education is the major resource while knowledge is the main weapon,
President Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday. The future of the country is
with the younger generation especially with the university students, the
President said.
The President was addressing a gathering at the Eastern University,
Batticaloa, yesterday when he unveiled the Zoology block and the
renovated auditorium at the Eastern University.
University education in the North and East was hampered by the LTTE
terrorism. As a result of terrorism, the stage of the main auditorium of
the Eastern University was blasted, the President said.
Allocations made for higher education and the uplift of the
university were not properly utilized during the terror period. Most of
the members of the academic staff of the university left the country
owing to the reign of terror. After liberating the country from the
clutches of terrorism, the government took steps to uplift university
education to meet present day requirements, the President said.
Now the university system is blossoming. New undergraduate courses
have been introduced for the first time to university education. A
professor will be attached to the medical faculty of the Eastern
University. Cabinet approval has been granted for this. The entire
university education will be subjected to radical change soon in order
to meet the country’s requirements and of society. The graduate should
be job oriented and equipped to take up any challenge in the competitive
environment, the President added. He said a graduate should be a person
of quality, equipped with multiple skills and capable of taking the
country forward, the President noted. “The academic staff should also be
dedicated to create a capable student community enriched with knowledge
and skills.
New experiments have to be carried out at universities. In the final
outcome our universities have to match the universities of world
ranking”, the President said.
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