Sarcasm can be defined as the use of bitter, especially ironic remarks to wound someone's feelings. I read with interest the Sunday Times' Fifth Column headlined ‘Education: The potential for mayhem seems limitless.’ (Sunday Times 09.08.2009)
This hilarious piece is written under a pen name Ryp Van Winkle, who is the hero of a tale by Washington Irving. He is a person of utterly antiquated ideas for information. He slept and awoke after a long slumber of 20 years. I congratulate the columnist for his fine style of writing. It is full of innocent humour, with no malice or venom.
Our Ryp Van Winkle highlighted the short-comings in the term test. The column appeared to be addressed to Education Minister Susil Premajayantha. According to Ryp Van Winkle, the talk of the town is Susil Premajayantha. There is a famous Sinhala saying that all dirt accumulates at the mouth of the Beruwala River ("Okkam Kunu Beruwal Bokkata").
The fiasco in setting term test papers cannot be attributed to the minister. The Government defeating the most ruthless terrorist organisation cannot be compared to the preparation of term test papers. The latter is the responsibility of provincial authorities.
The Education Minister explained this recently in Parliament in response to a question on the test papers at NCP and Southern Provinces. The Ministry of Education called for explanation from the parties concerned and took immediate steps. The Minister also decided that term test papers in the future should be prepared under the supervision of competent officers at provincial level.
There are almost 9,714 schools in the country. The student population is close to 4 million and there are about 218,000 school teachers. Of these schools, only 327 come under the Education Ministry’s purview. The rest come under provincial authorities in terms of the 13th amendment to the Constitution. The Education Ministry is responsible for policy matters while the responsibility of holding the zonal level term test is with the provincial authorities.
After Minister Premajayantha assumed office, more than 31,000 teachers have been appointed. Further, following every public examination – the GCE (O/L) and GCE (A/L), for instance — the results are collated, scrutinized and analyzed while measures to improve the standards and rectify errors and eliminate shortcomings are also taken. The Ministry has also taken steps to solve many issues related to teachers, principals and administrative officers.
Ryp Van Winkle has apparently awoken after 20 years of slumber. Had he been awake at a short break even during that long period, he might have been more diligent with his polite criticism.
This piece is based on a thought of someone, who has been awake all the time.
Premasara Epasinghe, (Private Secretary to the Minister of Education) |
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