Teachers' Unions gear up to fight privatization of education

by Amani Nilar 11-12-2021 | 9:20 AM

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Ceylon Teachers Union alleges that serious problems have arisen in many sectors of the country due to decisions taken by the Government from time to time.

They point out that the government's views on state universities are now being questioned.

The Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers Union, Joseph Starlin, speaking on Friday (10) alleged that the Kotelawala University Act is an act which enables for the privatization of education while massive protests continued to take place against the militarization of tertiary education.

Citing the President's sentiments on transforming higher education into a foreign exchange earning system on Thursday (09), Starlin raised the question as to who is advising the President.

" We have seen in the recent past that several Ministers have changed, Secretaries were transferred and Army personnel were appointed. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 administration was handed over to the Army Commander and it has been completely militarized," he said.

Speaking further, the Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers Union stated that a fair suspicion exists whether the President is going to destroy the country's education in the same way as he destroyed the agriculture of the country with unwise policy decisions.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers' Service Union, Mahinda Jayasinghe said that the education system had been riddled with problems despite three Ministers; Prof. G.L. Peiris, Dullas Alahapperuma and Dinesh Gunawardena having been appointed to overlook education.

Pointing out that a vast majority of Universities in the country are not institutions being run for the purpose of profit, Jayasinghe said that although the top Universities in the world may be private Universities that operate without the aim of earning profit, most Universities in Sri Lanka are institutions that attempt to rack up on profit.

The priority of the Government should be a guarantee of higher education for children of the country on the basis of merit, ability and talent, regardless of possible privatization of education, he added.