Prof. Charitha Herath calls on NSBM graduates to focus on the nation’s development
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Prof. Charitha Herath called on young graduates to be taking part in this process of changing the status quo of the society towards a developed, secured and reformed country.
“I think it is important to share with you that one of the main aspirations of the present government is to change the status quo of this country,” said Prof. Herath who was the guest speaker at the NSBM University Convocation held on April 21.
Here are more excerpts from his speech at the convocation:
“As newly graduating students, you should focus on the national development of this country. I believe you would agree with me that the country we expect and the country in which we all have to live in are two different things.
If I make it clearer, we all expected a country with more opportunities for us though the country we have in reality has limited opportunities and a rather problematic nature in many fields.
In short, if I present it in more academic terms, we could say the land of hope that we expected through the governing experience of the post-colonial Sri Lankan state has not been produced yet. It is with this challenge that we argued for a better country and seek a mandate through Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency.
I think it is important to share with you that one of the main aspirations of the present government is to change the status quo of this country. I would like to summarise the main rationale behind the policy statement of the Government in the three main domains.
Those three are development, security and reforms. If we put some adjectives before these three terms, that would be economic development, local and regional security and social and political reforms. So, we want young graduates of this university to be taking part in this process of changing the status quo of the society towards a developed, secured and reformed country.
Please do not forget that you are walking towards a bigger society as a graduated lady or gentleman. So society is not a static place.
It is a dynamic process. also, let me bring to your attention an important analysis by the great world-renowned economist plus philosopher Amartya Sen.
Amartya Sen was born in India and now he is residing in USA, teaching at Harvard University. A few years ago he authored a book titled “Idea of Justice.” In this book he discusses on an important phenomenon; what is social justice?
“Social justice” could be looked at in three different angles. First “social justice” means accepting the rights which are derived from inheritance. Second perception is that “social justice” is based on knowledge and capacity. Third view is that the idea of “social justice” is equal distribution of resources within the society.
I would like to bring your attention to an important fact which is closely linked to your lives as young academics. As you pass this critical juncture in your territory education, you must know that education has two main components; one is the subject knowledge you gain throughout this process.
In English it is said that you get physical – hard knowledge. But this hard knowledge is not usable within the society until and unless you get soft knowledge. Soft knowledge is inclusive of many things such as the language you speak to the tone you speak. This fact could be explained using computer science language. Ordinary people would not understand the hardware system in a computer; however, any common person understands the software system in a computer.
Things such as word documents and power point presentations fall under this category. No one can make use of a computer in which only the hardware system is available if the software system is not installed. Sometimes graduates produced by our university system are also like computers without a software system.
If you, as young academics, understand this reality without any doubt you will reach the highest pinnacle in your life.”