{"id":93140,"date":"2019-09-19T22:08:38","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T04:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=93140"},"modified":"2019-09-19T14:55:54","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T21:55:54","slug":"health-education-and-yahapalana-part-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/09\/19\/health-education-and-yahapalana-part-6\/","title":{"rendered":"HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND YAHAPALANA Part 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA\u00a0 PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

HIGHER EDUCATION\n(QUALITY ASSURANCE AND ACCREDITATION) ACT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0Yahapalana announced In August 2019 that is was planning to introduce a Higher Education (Quality Assurance and Accreditation) Act. This Act would create a national authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of higher education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This National authority\u201d turned out to be nothing more than a Commission. This Commission is to be the apex body for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of higher educational institutions at the national level.\u00a0 It is expected to “maintain high standards of quality of educational qualifications in higher educational institutions.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The draft Act said that the Commission shall be composed of persons who have academic qualifications, knowledge, experience and who have shown fluent capacity in quality assurance, educational, professional, commercial, management, industrial, scientific, legal, or administrative field or any other relevant field said the Act.” This is a very loose definition said, critics.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commission\nwill have 13 members. Four ex-officio and a further nine members who will be\nappointed by the President from a panel of 15 persons nominated by the\nMinister. Five of these 9 members will be full-time members of the Commission,\nwith one of them chairing the Commission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The quorum for any meeting shall be five. Therefore, out of 13 members, less than 50% of attendants are sufficient to take decisions, said critics. Also, by setting the quorum of meetings conducted by the Commission at 5, the Bill allows the five full-time members, who are political appointees, to make any decision related to the Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These provisions give considerable power to\nthe Minister of Education. It is the minister who decides the suitability of\ncandidates. At the same time, the nine persons to be appointed by the President\ncould be anybody who could be influenced by the minister. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The powers of this commission are very\nextensive. Here are some of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • The Commission has the power to\nformulate, implement, and update Sri Lankan qualification framework.(\nSection  9 a)<\/li>
  • Commission has the power to revoke\nprovisional accreditation or full accreditation granted to Higher Educational\nInstitutions and Programmes conducted thereof that are not keeping up with the\nrequired quality and standards determined by the Commission.”(sec 9f) <\/li>
  • Evaluate foreign degrees, diplomas and\nother academic distinctions for the purpose of recognition or accreditation of\nsuch degrees, diplomas or academic distinctions in consultation with the\nrelevant professional or statutory or regulatory body or foreign academic\ninstitutions where necessary.( sec 9h)<\/li>
  • Notwithstanding the provisions in the\nUniversities Act No 16 of 1978 relating to Quality Assurance and Accreditation\nfunctions, the Commission shall discharge the functions in relation to Quality\nAssurance and Accreditation pertaining to Higher Educational Institutions\nestablished or deemed to be established under the Universities Act No 16 of\n1978 and Institutions recognized under section 25 of the Universities Act No 16\nof 1978 (section 55 (c) (ii) <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    These provisions indicate that the functions presently carried out by higher educational institutions and professional institutions, will be taken over by the Commission. Eventually, the powers vested with the University Grants Commission will also be taken over by this Commission, said critics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This draft Bill has been strongly opposed by many in the Higher education sector, including the Federation of University Teachers\u2019 Associations (FUTA), Medical Faculty Teachers\u2019 Federation. It has been criticized by many University Vice-Chancellors and Student Unions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    FUTA\nPresident said The Bill would end the GCE Advanced Level examination as a\nqualifying examination to enter State Universities. Those with money will be\nable to gain entry to State Universities through lateral entry. The Bill allows\nfor students to move between HE institutions under \u2018cross mobility.\u2019 This is\nallowed through the Sri Lanka Qualification Framework (SLQF). This could force\nState Universities to allow multiple entry points in their Degree programmes\nfor students from Private Education institutions,\u201d he observed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Bill would take away accreditation powers regarding higher education institutions currently vested with the University Grants Commission and entrust it to this new Quality Assurance & Accreditation Commission, he continued. FUTA was not opposed to Accreditation & Quality Assurance of Private Education institutions. But we see no need to do that to State Universities, which already have a mechanism to ensure this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Further, the proposed Bill will seriously undermine the state university system. The Bill would essentially place the State Universities and Private Education institutions on an equal footing. Private Education institutions operate on a platform based on profit-making, while the State University system is based on social justice. You can\u2019t equate the two. FUTA President said.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Organization\nof Professional Associations (OPA) also objected to the draft Act. OPA\nPresident Nissanka Perera stated that their organization was seriously\nconcerned that the proposed Quality Assurance & Accreditation Commission\nwill be a politicized body, given that, so many members can be appointed from\noutside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     We acknowledge there is a need for Quality\nAssurance & Accreditation in the HE sector. However, the Bill, in its\ncurrent form, is extremely dangerous. The OPA strongly feels that the Bill\nshould be withdrawn and views of professionals obtained on the matter,\u201d OPA\nPresident said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    FOREIGN\nSCHOLARSHIPS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00a0<\/em>Yahapalana government announced, through Minister \u00a0<\/em>Mangala Samaraweera that Yahapalana has decided to send 14 top performers in the Advanced Level examination to foreign universities for undergraduate education at taxpayer expense. Nawam Mawatha had a \u00a0large billboard advertising this in September 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Critics promptly calculated the cost. The annual fees for a top US University are around Rs 9.0m. For 14 students the annual school fees alone will be about Rs 126m. The four-year bill will be about Rs 500m. Travel, books, etc. will cost an additional sum. Without adjusting for inflation, the university fees for 14 students in a US university will cost 3% of Colombo\u2019s annual budget, said, critics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00a0<\/em>It is possible that foreign universities may offer scholarships to reduce the cost to the government. What happens when very good students privately apply to such universities. But the government making arrangements to send the best students abroad makes little educational sense, critics said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The move could be interpreted as an admission that the state does not believe that the universities which it runs are good enough for the best students in the country, said critics. The Rs 126 million can be used to award generous scholarships so\u00a0that more students can enter local universities. There are many other ways by which this money can be spent to help cash-strapped local state universities, \u00a0said, critics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Those who go on these scholarships will have to sign an agreement to return and serve the country for 15 years, said Yahapalana. That is unlikely said critics. The students who are selected are the very people who will move on to postgraduate studies soon after undergraduate studies, and thereafter to careers abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    TABLET\nCOMPUTERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00a0Yahapalana put forward a plan in 2017 to distribute\u00a0 234,321 tablet computers in three stages to school children and teachers in the Advanced level classes. Around 77,309 students and 12,221 teachers in national schools will receive 89,530 tabs. Other schools will receive 47,872 tabs for 39,091 students and 8791 teachers,\u00a0\u00a0 said Yahapalana. Steps would be taken to block access to data outside educational matters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The ministry planned to distribute 96,919 tabs at a cost of Rs.4,000 million in August 2019, in the first phase. The second and third phases were scheduled to take place in 2020. President Sirisena\u00a0 had intervened to say that any money left over should\u00a0 be used for other shortcomings in schools such as desks, chairs and other equipment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Since Advanced Level students and teachers\nwill receive about 100,000 high-quality, brand new  tablets with a three-year guarantee, to start\nwith, said Minister Kariyawasam.  It will be unnecessary for the\ngovernment  to print textbooks  for Grade 6 to Grade 9 thereafter. With\ntablets, the use of written documents and taking down notes in exercise books\nwill be minimised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “Tablets\nwill be first given to GCE AL students of National Schools and then to AL\nstudents in schools with Wi-Fi facility. In the third stage we will identify\nschools without the Wi-Fi facility and give the Wi-Fi as well as tabs,”\nsaid Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in July 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This was\npromptly contradicted by President Sirisena. .Cabinet approval had been granted\nfor the programme to provide tab computers to G.C.E.Advanced Level students on\ncondition that it is first implemented as a pilot project in national schools,\nhe said. The next stage would  depend on the success of the pilot project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The tender for the purchase of  tablet computers ran into trouble. It was not\ndone in a straight forward way. Procurement Appeal Board  told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry\ninvestigating corruption in the \nYahapalana  administration, that\nthe government\u2019s allocation to procure the tab computers was Rs. 5 billion . Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) however,\nawarded\nthe tender to Metropolitan Computers  for\na model that would  cost the government Rs. 7.4 billion.\nTEC had rejected all bids except the one by Metropolitan Computers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Seven\nrejected bidders had  lodged complaints\nwith  PAB\nand   PAB\nhad  conducted an investigation and found the\nfollowing. PAB   found that \nTEC has not adhered to the procurement guidelines. TEC  had not\ngiven exact specifications to suppliers. \nOnly TEC knew what the specifications were. For instance they had merely\ngiven a photo of what the casing should look like, nothing else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    TEC\nhad changed criteria for the project on a number of occasions and  adequate time had not been given to the\nbidders to make adjustments to their bids. They were only given 12 days to\ncomply. Usually, we give them 28 days even when it\u2019s a domestic bid. But in\nthis case some bidders had to communicate with computer manufacturers from\nforeign countries and bidders said that they needed about eight weeks for this,\nsaid PAB.” Lastly,  TEC had   rejected bids  which did not have FCC safety certificate, though Telecommunications Regulatory\nCommission had advised it to accept both FCC and CE certification. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The rejected bidders said they did not know\nwhy their bids had been rejected. PAB \ngot the TEC to reveal the reasons for their rejection. Once that was done, we asked the bidders to re-present\ndocuments,  said PAB . TEC had rejected a\nnumber of bids, stating that there were \u2018major deviations,\u2019 but PAB found that\nthese   \u2018deviations\u2019  could have been sorted out. PAB cleared four\nbids rejected by the TEC for having \u2018major deviations .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    PAB \nfound that four bids, apart from Metropolitan, met the required criteria.\nOut of them, PAB decided that the tender should be awarded to  the Haier Tab Computer,  marketed by Abans, which met all the criteria,\nwas the cheapest  and had CE\ncertification.” Ministry of Education \ninstead, asked the TEC to re-evaluate the bid. Instead of purchasing the\nHaier product, TEC chose a Lenovo product offered by Abans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Around May\n2019, Ministry  decided that it wanted\nto  conduct a massive publicity campaign\nabout the forthcoming Tablet project , costing\n a whopping Rs. 55 million , obtained   as a\nsupplementary estimate to the Budget. The Ministry said that a publicity\ncampaign prior to the distribution of the tablets was needed to create greater\nawareness among the people on the educational and social benefits received by\nstudents by the use of tablets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The\nministry  planned to create an attractive\npublicity campaign using advertisements in the electronic, radio and print\nmedia,  in addition to hoardings.  Three advertising agencies which had submitted  proposals to the Procurement Committee of the\nMinistry were short listed. Cherry Isle \nquoted Rs. 70.8 million, Media Solutions Rs.70.3 million and the CAPR 7\nMedia Pvt Ltd Rs. 55 million.   Due   to lack of time, the Ministry  wanted \nto  bypass  the customary \nopen competitive procedures and award the publicity campaign to the\nlowest quotation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    SURAKSHA INSURANCE SCHEME <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Several weaknesses of the Suraksha Insurance\nscheme emerged before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry investigating\ncorruption in the Yahapalana administration. The\nidea of an insurance scheme for school children \ncame from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Education Minister\nKariyawasam, said Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe. These\ntwo presented a Cabinet Paper on Suraksha Insurance scheme without conducting a\nfeasibility study. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The project was duly approved by the Cabinet,\nand the project was placed under the  Health and Nutrition Division of the Education\nMinistry. The Education Ministry had neither the jurisdiction nor expertise to\ncarry out such a project. It should have been managed by the Health Ministry,\nsaid Wijeyadasa.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Commission\nwas urged to look at the money allocated to the project. By mid-2018, students\nhad claimed only about Rs. 160 million, but the Ministry had allocated Rs. 2.7\nbillion for the project. \nEducation Minister Kariyawasam and Petroleum Resources Minister Kabir\nHashim had also re-insured \u2018Suraksha\u2019 with a reinsurance company in India,\npaying it Rs. 2,430 million, said informants.   Officials in the Ministry of Education had\nobjected to this but the Suraksha committee had overruled them, saying this was\nthe Minister\u2019s decision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The first\ninsurance contract in 2018 was given to the state-owned Sri Lanka Insurance\nCorporation.  The next   \ncontract for 2019 was given to Allianz\nInsurance. \nAllianz Insurance Lanka Ltd is a fully-owned subsidiary of Allianz SE,\nGermany. Pannipitiya Private Hospital together with\nAllianz Insurance, decided to grant a 20% discount to students who own Suraksha\npolicies when they take treatment at the hospital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) appointed\nto select the suitable bidder for 2019 did not have an expert on insurance\nthough this was a requirement in the procurement guidelines.  Two TEC members had doubts about the no-claim\npayback of Allianz Insurance.\nThey had not been invited to the last meeting where the final decision was\ntaken. The Commission\nsaid that it looked as though TEC had deliberately attempted to ensure that\nAllianz obtained the tender. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    EDUCATION \nMINISTER\u2019S PHOTO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A photograph of\nEducation Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam was printed in the school textbooks\nfor 2018\/2019, along with a message. The Presidential Commission investigating\nfrauds under the current administration focused attention on the costs incurred\nby this. The photo appeared in 18 million textbooks in 2018  and 39\nmillion textbooks in 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Kariyawasam had\nwanted a colour photograph, but education officials had managed to   get him to agree to a black and white photo.  <\/em>Ministry\nofficials did not approve the publication of this photograph. They thought it\nwas unethical. It was the first time that a Minister had added his\nphotograph to textbooks, they said. Minister Kariyawasam however said that the\nMinistry had assured him that  color\nphotos of previous education ministers had been included in textbooks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Former acting\nCommissioner of Education Publications, I.M.K.B. Ilangasinghe, who testified\nabout the photo was transferred, on July 24, 2019 without a charge sheet,  to the Education Services Establishment\nDivision pool. It was thought that this was because he spoke against Education\nMinister on the photo matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    An earlier file\nagainst Ilangasinghe, which has been closed without any action was now dug\nout   and sent, with a note from\nKariyawasam, instructing the Secretary to take action against Ilangasinghe. The government was trying to intimidate\nstate officials so that they would not testify truthfully before these\ncommissions,  said education officials.\nCritics pointed out that witnesses coming before the Commission could not be\nvictimized in this manner. They were protected by several laws. The Commission ordered that Ilangasinghe, be\nimmediately  reinstated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In addition to\nschool textbooks, the photograph of Education Minister Kariyawasam  was also printed on the school uniform\nvoucher. Kariyawasam had instructed  Secretary, Education,  in August 2016, to place photos of the\nPresident, Prime Minister, himself and the state minister at the back of school\nuniform vouchers. This   was reported to\nthe Commission. This is the first time\nthat a photo of a politician was inserted into the school uniform distribution\nprocess, informants said.  Commission was\ntold  by \nPrintcare Secure ,the firm which did the printing that the cost of\nprinting  the vouchers could have been\nreduced by about 25% if photos of the President, Prime Minister, Education Minister\nand the State Minister had not been printed on the reverse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    SCHOOL\nBUILDINGS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Yahapalana trumpeted on August 9 2019 that\naround 500 School buildings, built at a cost of Rs  10 billion over the past 4 years, would be\ndeclared open in 9 Provinces  on that one\nday. The new  buildings include, Science\nLabs, Computer Labs, Sports Complexes, buildings for Technical studies,\nLibraries, Principals\u2019 and Teachers\u2019 Quarters, Classrooms, improved Sanitation\nfacilities and Supply of Electricity and Water. Of 18,600 projects, 15,000 were\nProvincial projects and about 2,000 were for National schools. Minister of\nEducation said this was the largest number of buildings opened on the same day,\nfor school related projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ceylon\nTeachers Service Union said  these were  not 500 new projects as claimed by the\nMinistry of Education. In some cases, old buildings have  been re-painted and shown as new buildings.\n50 of these buildings were only renovated and not newly constructed. Some\nbuildings were not up to standard.  Principals\nhad raised objections about the buildings, but the authorities had forced them\nto arrange for opening ceremonies<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Derana News\non 9.9.19 then showed the opposite. At Sri Siddhartha secondary school, in\nDikkumbura, Galle, a three storey new building has been approved. The first\nthing  the builders had done was to break\ndown the existing buildings. They broke down an entire  block of class rooms and removed the roof of\nanother set of classrooms.  Then\nthey   stopped  work and left.6 classrooms, the common room, library, staff room, and  deputy principal\u2019s office  were \namong the building broken down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But the\nschool is continuing to function. The principal told Derana that one class room\nis divided into two and classes held. Classes are taught in rotation.  We give leave on one day  to   \ngrade 7 and get down grade 6, \nnext day get down 7, next day give leave to Grade 8 and get down 6,  and so on. Every day  around  \n300  pupils  are at home\u201d We are studying under umbrellas\nwhen it rains.\u201d  Derana television showed\nthe  principal, staff and students busily\nengaged  in building a class room . We\nalso saw the staff having their lunch under a staircase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The media\nreported in May 2019 that the staff residential \nquarters at Tunkama Maha Vidyalaya, Embilipitiya,  were in dilapidated condition. The tutorial\nstaff of about 40 teachers, attend to about 1500 students in this school. Most\nof the teachers are from distant areas and the majority reside in Embilipitiya.\nThe existing quarters have not been used for about 2 years, due to the lack of\nrepairs, and the teachers\u2019 requests to the authorities to renovate them, had\nfallen on deaf ears, the media said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    SCIENCE\nTEACHING ( 1)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The General\nCertificate of AL Bio-Science stream syllabi will be modified as the subject\ncontent is changing with new discoveries taking place in the world, Education\nMinister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam told Parliament  in August 2019.  Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda has been tasked with\nmodifying the Bio-Stream syllabi, he said.  \nJayadeva Uyangoda retired as \nProfessor of Political science in the \nUniversity of Colombo. He is not an expert in bio-science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    SCIENCE\nTEACHING ( 2)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    With 2 weeks\nto go for the 2019 GCE Advanced Level exam, students complained  in July 2017 \nthat they were unable to obtain Sinhala\/Tamil Resource books on Science\nsubjects because the printing has been delayed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The National\nInstitute of Education responsible for the printing of these books, said that,\ndue to its involvement with the main task of designing and developing curricula\nit had failed to get the books printed on time. The Resource\nbooks, a new concept introduced last year, is an additional responsibility to\nour main tasks, they said.  The material\nfor the books is in English, and have to be translated into Sinhala and Tamil.\nHowever, the contents of the books have been published on the Internet and\nstudents could log on to the NIE website and download the material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    SCIENCE\nTEACHING ( 3)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A petition has\nbeen filed in the Court of Appeal  in\nAugust 2019, complaining that the Biology teachers are deprived of proper\ncourse material for the Biology New Syllabus and thereby they are unable to\nproperly and effectively guide the GCE A\/L students. It says that the GCE\nA\/L Biology students are deprived of proper course material. Hence a grave\ninjustice would be caused to them at the GCE A\/L examination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The petition said\nthat the Biology New Syllabus introduced with effect from 2017 was amended from\ntime to time, without due notice to teachers and students.  Also there is a wide discrepancy between the\nNew Biology Syllabus in English and the one in Sinhala. The petitioner wanted\nCourt to restrain the Education Department from conducting the Biology\nexamination, scheduled for August 5, 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    TEACHING\nSTAFF (COMPLAINT NO 1)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Many newly\nappointed graduate teachers, at Provincial Council level, had been recruited to\nteach subjects they had not studied in universities and were therefore\nfinding  it difficult to teach these\nsubjects, reported  the media in June\n2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    TEACHING\nSTAFF (COMPLAINT NO 2)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Ceylon\nTeachers Union (CTU) claimed that the  \npostings  granted to 4,286 new\nteachers  in May 2019 has created a\nchaotic situation and  has failed to\nclear the teacher shortages in rural schools. Ministry of Education has\nassigned the majority of the teachers to the 353 National schools, while\nignoring the over 9,800 Provincial schools, which are experiencing a severe\nteacher shortage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    These\nteachers were recruited under Section 6.1.1 of Gazette notification No.1914\nwhere, Advanced Level students from difficult areas were selected to the\nNational College of Education  despite\ntheir lower Z-scores, because they were willing to serve in rural areas. Those\nwith high Z-scores from urban areas were ignored. They may be appointed to\nNational schools only if there are no vacancies in the Provincial schools. But\nthere are vacancies in Provincial schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Secondly, teachers\nhave been posted in a haphazard way. Teachers of the Uva Province were appointed\nto the Eastern Province, those from the Northern Province to Sabaragamuwa\nProvince and teachers from the North-Central Province to distant areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    TEACHING\nSTAFF (COMPLAINT NO 3)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In late May, 3,850 UNP henchmen were appointed\nas school sports instructors. “Even Governors of the provinces opposed\nthese appointments. The qualification of some instructors has been taking part\nin tug of war contests and this event is no longer held in schools, reported\nthe  Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU. The\nbasic qualification for this position is passing the GCE O\/L examination and at\nleast the third place at a district level schools sports event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In July 2019, the CTU complained that the\nMinistry of Education would appoint another 510 UNP henchmen as school sports\ninstructors  despite the overwhelming\nopposition to such political appointments by the education sector trade unions.\nThe appointments have been made according to the lists given by UNP MPs.\n“This is a part of the government\u2019s strategy to stuff the education sector\nwith UNP henchmen, said CTU.  By\nentrusting schoolchildren to such mediocre individuals, there will be  serious concerns about the safety of the\nchildren. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    TEACHING\nSTAFF (COMPLAINT NO 4)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Principals,\nteachers and Sri Lanka Education Administrative Service (SLEAS) officers, held\na major protest opposite President\u2019s House in Colombo in August 2019,against \na move to appoint a SLAS Class III officers to SLEAS Class 1. This would\ncreate a precedent, enabling Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) officers\nto cross over to the SLEAS cadre. The appointment of SLAS officers to the SLEAS\nwill  cause a disparity in the grades and  create a vacuum in the number of Class 1\nofficers in the SLEAS cadre .  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     This \nwould create a mix and cause much disruption within the Education\nsector. SLAS officers will be allowed to get into the Education sector, while\nteachers and principals are not allowed to sit the SLAS exams. Southern\nProvince Governor Keerthi Tennakoon, who had initiated this, said that  this Assistant Director posting to the\nProvince was nothing new. It has been in existence for some time, and was\nvacant for the last 8 years in the SLAS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    TEACHING\nSTAFF (COMPLAINT NO 5)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On June 26,\n2018, the EUs representing the SLEAS officers, teachers and principals,  had planned a token strike protesting against\nthe Government\u2019s plan to grant 3,000 officials in the Education sector,\nconcessions for being politically victimized. President\nintervened and directed the Ministry to appoint a 3-member committee to review\nthe move. The committee was to review all files and the PSC was  to grant concessions to deserving persons,\nafter discussion with the EUs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Despite\nthese, assurances  in June, that no\nofficer will be granted appointments, promotions or increments on claims of\npolitical victimization, in August\n2019, that the Ministry was planning to grant concessions to 1,028 \u2018politically\nvictimized\u2019 SLEAS officers The CTU  says\nthe  Ministry does not have the power to\nact for the PSC, which is mandated with all administrative work of public\nservants and  also that the education unions were not consulted . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    TEACHING\nSTAFF (COMPLAINT NO 6)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Retiring\nteachers in government schools have requested the Public Service Commission PSC\nto look into the new system imposed by the Pension Dept   for obtaining \ntheir Widows and Orphans pensions. It is causing much  distress and hassle. In the new system  retiring teachers have to obtain all\ndocuments from the areas they have worked in, when preparing their WAOP fund\ndocuments.  Teachers have  also to submit certified documents of all\ndeductions from the Zonal offices of the schools they have worked in. This\nmeans that a retiring teacher has to visit all Zonal offices of areas they have\nworked in, in order to prepare the W&OP for his\/her family. A teacher who\nhas served for 30 years, in schools, has to visit several Zonal offices in\norder to apply for his\/her pension. Earlier, the files of all pensioners were\nmaintained by the Pensions Department.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     BIG BAD WOLF\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Big Bad\nWolf  book sale of Malaysia  came to Sri Lanka for the first time after\nYahapalana took over. There were two BBW book sales in Colombo in 2017 and 2018.The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale  is  a\nbook sale held  primarily in Malaysia\nby  BookXcess\u201d of Malaysia. This shop\nbuys  up stocks of  unsold books from publishers, and makes them\navailable for sale. \u2018We buy the excess or remainder books from the publishers\nand keep them stashed away in our warehouse\u2019 \nthe firm said. This means that these are books for which there was no demand.\nBy the time they re-emerge for sale  they\nwill be even more out of date. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Colombo\nsale had  1.5 million books of 20,000\ntitles. It was open 24 hours for ten days. Trade was brisk.  There were dozens of customers with packed\ntrolleys. There were heaps of books for \ntoddlers and young children and \nlots of  guides to learning English.\nThere were  coffee table books and  cookbooks. I saw a huge cart containing\ndozens of copies of Volume One  only of\nGame of Thrones\u201d. The books were unbelievably cheap. Books to the total    value of \nUSD 300 was picked up  by one\ncustomer for  a  mere Rs 8,700. However,  local booksellers  were not too concerned. They said that  Big Bad Wolf \ndid not have the books Sri Lanka usually reads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Big Bad Wolf\nstated that it was supported by The Ministry of Education of Sri Lanka. And the\nsale was officially inaugurated by Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam. The\nsupport of the Ministry of Education for this   venture can be questioned.  ( Continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    KAMALIKA\u00a0 PIERIS HIGHER EDUCATION (QUALITY ASSURANCE AND ACCREDITATION) ACT \u00a0\u00a0Yahapalana announced In August 2019 that is was planning to introduce a Higher Education (Quality Assurance and Accreditation) Act. This Act would create a national authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of higher education. This National authority\u201d turned out to be nothing more than a Commission. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}