Sri Lankan youth need more opportunities at local universities: President
View(s):Reforms in the country’s education system, particularly at the tertiary stage, have been called by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
“It is no secret that our country’s education system has not kept pace with the requirements of today’s world,” President Rajapaksa said, while addressing the annual Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) general convocation ceremony recently.
“We need to create more opportunities for our young people to study in Sri Lankan universities,” he added.
The President congratulated the graduates and recognised their renowned leadership skills, teamwork skills, integrity and patriotism, and praised the university’s efforts.
“Today, the General Sir John Kotelawela Defence University is reputed to be one of Sri Lanka’s finest tertiary educational institutions, producing graduates who are extremely competent in their chosen disciplines,” he said.
Expressing his inability to understand the objections raised by certain groups against KDU, the President said behaviour of this nature has been responsible for hindering the national education system for decades.
The President said the best universities in the world are not only state universities but also those that are structured as independent self-governing entities, charitable institutions, or nonprofit organisations.”
“There is no reason as to why such institutions cannot be established in Sri Lanka. The old objections about higher education institutions that are not state universities being education shops that sell degrees are nonsensical. We need to think beyond this tired old rhetoric from a past era, which is being cynically used to limit opportunities for our young people. If we do not do this now, many more generations of students will needlessly suffer because of these parochial attitudes. I am not prepared to let this happen,” the President said.
“The fact that students may pay for their studies at universities established outside the public sector does not mean that those institutions sell degrees. Objecting to the establishment of universities outside the public sector on such flimsy grounds is not just tragic, it is a crime,” he added.
“I am pleased to note that several reforms have already been implemented by our universities, and that more are to be introduced next year. I hope that these reforms will equip our university students with the skills and aptitudes they need in order to be productive citizens after they graduate.”
Even though these reforms have been implemented successfully, the President emphasised the extreme capacity constraint of the education system, giving rise to the constant narrowing of opportunities throughout the system.
“It has almost resulted in the system being designed with more intent to fail students than to help them succeed. We see this in the large numbers who sit for their Ordinary Level examinations, but do not qualify to study at the Advanced Level.”
The President also said a high cost was incurred by parents who send their children abroad for higher education. This also resulted in a loss of valuable foreign exchange and deprived the nation of outstanding young individuals who were more likely to remain abroad after graduation, while a majority of youth drop out of universities due to financial constraints and take up low paying jobs.
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