Aloysius Hettiarachchi

Now that the inevitable has happened, let us all get together and put forward a plan of action to make most of what is left for Mother Lanka.

Sri Lanka should get the help of the international community to obtain the maximum compensation, without any part of it going into any Individual or group of them as being alleged,  but to the benefit of those who might have suffered most and to the country in general.

Various experts put various figures:  some say US $ 20 b while some others say 100 b. We should make sure we get the maximum and use it for the welfare of those who suffered and for their future generation. The rest should be used to pay up those who have provided us with  loans and got undue advantage. That should include the Port City, the H’tota port and any other. All those should be amicably settled without leaving room for any manipulation. This can only be done with patriotic persons with impeccable character and integrity; not with any of the present politicos.

The problems of the rural community should be addressed, their transport and conflicts with elephants should be solved immediately.

The education system needs a paradigm shift, by making the young generation tech savvy. At the moment it is geared to send them abroad by hook or by crook.  We should get either US or S. Korea to establish a wafer plant, like what Singapore has done and get their experts in the tech field to teach the secondary students the art of using modern equipment in fabricating simple item or even wire up a robotic arm. I have seen such things being done in China in massive scale, by providing them with standard connectors. Each school even in the remotest area should be equipped with such facility.

All the unemployed arts graduates should be trained in digital arts, they should be taught how colors are synthesized in computer using 256 pallets or bits of 8, 24, 32 etc. and how they are displayed on computer with various frame rates and  transmitted via networks in various forms like JPEG, PNG etc. I am sure this shouldn’t take more than 3 months. The backwardness of the rural graduates should be eradicated. At the moment it is only one urban community that is tech savvy and well networked. We should be able to get trainers from even India for this purpose, but monitored for their performance.