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I read with interest the COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises)
Interim Report, in which comments have been made on university education
in Sri Lanka.
The COPE Report clearly states that this aspect of education lags
behind and that some drastic changes are required for its qualitative
development. It has also been mentioned that the commitment of certain
university lecturers with regard to betterment of the academic
performance, is not upto the required level. Absenteeism of lecturers
has been found to be on the increase.
It is very correct that the curricula in the universities have not
been changed for years. This is despite the fact that changes have taken
place in the fields of all disciplines including Arts, Science, Commerce
and Information Technology. Why the UGC failed to take this into
consideration and rectify matters, is anyone's guess.
Although basic English is introduced to students in their first year,
most of the graduates who pass out of the universities sadly, do not
possess a satisfactory competence in the English language. Heads of
Faculties and lecturers attribute this shortcoming to the fact that the
majority of students entering the universities are from rural
backgrounds where English is hardly spoken, and the matter seems to rest
there.
The common grievance of university students today, with regard to
most of the degree courses, is that they are not job-oriented. The other
matter of concern is the sharp decline in the number of students who
offer Economics as a discipline. This field was very competitive and in
demand upto the 1980s but has dropped by nearly 60 percent.
It is common knowledge that some serious lapses exist with regard to
the administration of certain universities. To overcome these problems,
the university authorities together with the Higher Education Ministry
should formulate a regulatory mechanism to ensure smooth operations
including methods to improve the presence of lecturers.
The smooth functioning of the universities can be ensured only
through a collective effort on the part of the university authorities
rather than through the bureaucratic procedures of the University Grants
Commission.
HARSHI NADIE PERERA PILIYANDALA
It is reported that cancer patients are fast increasing in our
country. So accommodating them at the Mahargama National Cancer Hospital
will be a problem to the health authorities. The sufferings of these
patients are heart-burning to us.
They need to be cared with special attention and very kindly. We, who
are in good health should offer every possible help and assistance to
whoever is a cancer patient.
We do not know what disease is in store for us. Some people feel the
sufferings of others only when they themselves fall sick. The duration
of the life of man is limited and hence it is advisable to make the best
of it by getting involved in meritorious acts.
The foundation stone was laid last week, to put up another building
with all modern facilities with essential equipment for cancer patients
at Mahargama itself at a massive cost of Rs. 1500 million. A private
company donated Rs. 900m and on the directive of the President, the
government will be funding the balance Rs. 600m.
Some years ago our cricketers made an attempt to construct a building
for the Cancer Hospital. There were a lot of financial donors both
individuals and organisations.
I too arranged with members of my staff for a monthly donation from
our salaries. But with the inactiveness of the project the interest of
our staff too had ended I learnt later, after my retirement.
I take this opportunity to request private companies that organize
all kinds of tamashas to considers spending their monies for the
improvement of government hospitals, especially donating equipment to
hospitals to alleviate the sufferings of the patients.
Sri Lankans are soft-hearted people. There are very generous
businessmen who donate lavishly for human needs. So are ordinary people
too, doing in their own possible ways.
The concern shown to Rizana's family is an example both by the
government and our people.
Nazly Cassim Colombo 13
Wealth is deceitful. Greedy men are proud and restless – like death
itself they are never satisfied. That is why they try to conquer nation
after nation for themselves. The conquered people will taunt their
conquerors and show their scorn for them. They will say, “You take what
isn't yours but you are doomed. How long will you go on getting rich by
forcing your debtors to pay up? But before you know it, you that have
conquered others will be in debt yourselves and be forced to pay
interest. Enemies will come and make you tremble. They will plunder you.
You have plundered the people of many nations but now those who have
survived will plunder you because of the murders you have committed and
because of your violence against the people of the world and its
cities”.
“You are doomed! You have made your family rich with what you took by
violence and have tried to make your own home safe from harm and danger.
But your schemes have brought shame on your family. By destroying many
nations you have only brought ruin on yourself. Even the stones of the
walls cry out against you and the rafters echo the cry. You are doomed!
You founded a city on crime and built it up by murder. The nations you
conquered wore themselves out in useless labour and all they have built
goes up in flames. The Lord Almighty has done this. But the earth will
be as full of the knowledge of the Lord's glory as the seas are full of
water. You are doomed!
In your fury you humiliated and disgraced your neighbours; you made
them stagger as though they were drunk. You in turn will be covered with
shame instead of honour. You yourself will drink your own cup of
punishment and your honour will be turned to disgrace. (from the Book of
Habakkuk (7th Century BC) Chapter 2.5 to 16).
Remember: 'What has happened before will happen again, what has been
done before will be done again. There is nothing new in the whole world.
“Look”, they say, “here is something new. But no, it has all happened
before, long before we were born”. (Ecclesiates 1.9.10), and again it
states, “Whatever happens or can happen has already happened before. God
makes the same thing happen again and again” (Ecc 3.15).
Upatissa Attygalle, Colombo 7
In the year 1950 when I was ten years old, push bicycles had to be
licensed annually. A fee of Rs. 1/- a fairly big amount of money during
that time, was levied by the licensing authorities, the Municipal, Urban
and Town Councils. The licence had to be fixed to the bicycle and
prominently displayed for inspection by the Police. The other
requirements were to have a bell, a head light positioned right below
the handles, a tail light on the rear mudguard and a lock.
The bicycle had the facility of using the pillion as a luggage
carrier with a stand fitted between the rear wheel to halt it straight
and another close to the left pedal to halt it slant-wise. It also was
provided with an inflater and a tool kit hung on the back of the seat. A
bike of the then famous English brands Raleigh, Rudge, BSA or a Humber
cost two hundred and fifty rupees. Today, the price of a bike sans those
facilities is exorbitant and beyond the reach of the ordinary citizen.
Pillion riding was a prohibition not even on the front bar. If the
police detected cyclists riding double (sometimes treble) or without
licence or lights, the punishments meted out were at times somewhat
humours. They deflated the tyres by removing the valve tubes or cutting
the tyres to penetrate the tubes. The valve tubes were not returned.
In such an event, the riders had no alternative but to carry the
bicycles on their shoulders in search of repair shops amidst mocking and
casting of remarks by onlookers and passers by. Whilst this act created
hilarious moments to those around the place and brought much shame to
the offenders in public, they simultaneously served a deterrent to the
habitual. It was a preliminary measure that the police preferred within
its jurisdiction to discipline them, prior to prosecution.
In 1952, when I was a student of the Very Rev. Fr. T.M.F. Long OMI at
St Patrick's College in Jaffna, I peddled a hired 'Rudge' push bicycle
at ten cents per hour and pedelled it from Jaffna to Matale, leaving
Jaffna at 1.35 pm reaching Killinochchi at 6.00 pm and arriving at
Matale on the following day at 5.00 pm. When I reached Killinochchi it
was dusk. As I entered the town I saw a police officer coming in my
direction. Recollecting that my bicycle did not have a light I stopped
and alighted from it. The observant police officer realized what I meant
by doing so. He came to me and said “Good boy”.
I still remember this happening. As a septuagenarian today, I believe
what I did then, when I was a brat aged eleven years that that
commendation was a credit to my civility and respect to law. This aspect
has to be inculcated in the minds of the present defiant generation.
Since the supervision of push bicycle riders on highways had been
liberalized or neglected by the successive regimes since the seventh
decade of the past century, the 'susu, susu' culture replaced the bell.
It sounded like calling cats and dogs by a noise made with the aid of
the tongue. The licence, bells and lights were scrapped altogether and
the state lost revenue in a considerable sum of about two million rupees
annually. This became a habit, left unchecked and has gone on for 42
years upto now.
After a little more than four decades, it is a pleasure to hear that
the present Inspector General of Police has turned his attention towards
this life threatening culture.
His decision to re-enforce the laws pertaining to this mode of
transport rigidly is a piece de resistance.
Not only that but the public will also be happy if their conduct on
the highways is also closely supervised. This is a laudable thought come
at the right time when there is a clarion call to compel every citizen
to honour road rules. Even the pedestrians have to be warned at the same
time to 'Keep Right'.
L.A.W. Liyana Arachchi, Kadawatha
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