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Rights petition after Islam textbook withdrawn on one-country-one-law task force advice
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CfJ President Sahfy H. Ismail
By Sadisha Sapramadu
Thousands of schoolchildren in grades 6, 7, 10 and 11 studying Islam as a subject have no textbooks since December 2021, after the Commissioner-General of the Educational Publications Department ordered principals to stop distribution and recall the books.
The recall came after the “One Country, One Law” Presidential Task Force headed by Ven Galagodaththe Gnansara Thera conveyed concerns about some of the contents of the books.
Now a civil society organisation called Centre for Justice (CfJ) has complained to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) on behalf of the students. The Commissioner-General issued a letter on December 14, 2021, ordering principals to cease distribution of the free books. They were also recalled for “minor adjustments” based on a communication from the Task Force.
In their representation to HRCSL dated October 3, CfJ President Sahfy H. Ismail supported by Senior Counsel Jiffriya Irshard noted that the PTF had neither legal power nor authority to review textbooks—and that it was “a foreign body to the subject of formulating or reviewing the content of school text book [s]”.
The textbook was first published in 2015 and reprinted many times, the complaint said, each time under the supervision of the Commissioner-General. If the textbooks had contained anything objectionable, he would be accountable for it.
The legitimate expectations of students who study Islam were violated in two ways, the complaint asserted: first, by recalling the books in the middle of the academic year when students had reasonably expected them to be available throughout; second, by delayed distribution of the amended books for nine months which impacted their right to free education.
There was an ulterior motive in the decision to recall textbooks on Islam, the complaint stated, pointing out that the minor adjustments could have been made in the next reprint or communicated to students without having to deprive them of textbooks. The directive was a discriminatory decision, it claimed, requesting the HRCSL to launch an investigation (among other recommendations).
Commissioner-General P.N. Ilappperuma told the Sunday Times that, after a committee revised the textbooks, the Department had called tenders on May 4 this year to produce the new stocks. While private sector printers had fulfilled the orders, publicly-owned printers delayed owing to import restrictions on paper.
The Department hoped to distribute the books next month while prioritising grades 10 and 11 ahead of the O-Levels exams, he said.
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