Out of darkness

CASS project harnesses the skills of rural youth and promotes pride to counter urban prejudice

By Carl Muller

Right now, a special pilot project promoted by the GTZ is being implemented by the Centre for Anthropological and Sociological Studies (CASS) of the University of Colombo.

Heading this project is Professor S.T. Hettige of the University's Department of Sociology who, together with all concerned agencies, has recognised that a large proportion of the rural youth of this country are being both alienated and marginalized. This is particularly so in the case of those with a secondary education.

In truth, this constitutes a major social and political issue and calls for urgent attention.

While the government as well as other concerned bodies and NGOs have offered vocational training opportunities and the guidelines for self-employment, it is now seen that there remains a general air of defeat in that young people are unable to place their new-found skills in a gainful manner.

Those who wish to strike out on their own are usually strapped for the needed finances and begin to accept that all their training has been a waste of time. What's more the youth themselves have begun to find that the schemes supposedly tailored for their future well-being have been formulated by those who have no inkling of their true aspirations, desires and expectations.

Sometimes these schemes take on a political colour, especially when such are formulated with the intervention of Ministries and State Departments. Such schemes become overly stereotyped and lack imagination. Also, as Professor Hettige has recognised, the youth themselves are not consulted or asked to share in the tailoring of such schemes. In the end there is little economic or social reward.

Even in the agricultural sector, young people are often given training that remains rigidly traditional. They are not expected to be innovative or to apply new methods or technologies. What is more, even after such training, they are usually expected to submit to the "old ways" of their families where a father will continue to farm his land as he has always done and show contempt for any "new-fangled ideas' and expect his son to remain an ''unskilled helper" who follows his directions. This means that even with sound vocational training, the son remains marginalized and has neither the land nor the finances to strike out on his own.

Up to now, there have been no plans or significant attempts to empower rural youth - to give them the opportunity to be either constructive or innovative and the ability to steer the ship themselves. All they can look to are the whims of political leaders and bureaucrats who have no idea of what really goes on at grass-root level and simply theorise and formulate from their city offices. It is even rarely that any local groups are mobilized and encouraged to even think of alternatives. What has been laid in place has instead of solving problems, only deepened the urban-rural disparities and, as a result, the urban elite continue to marginalize the rural to this day. This is a sort of social disparagement that can also be a social powder keg.

There are many unemployed graduates who have come from rural areas. This is, in itself, a resource. These young persons, even though unemployed, command respect in their villages as being educated and having risen over the "A' Level. Such young people have the capacity to play a leadership role. The University Grants Commission has already seen how many such graduates come from the homes of poor peasants, unskilled labourers and underemployed semi-skilled workers. With such background, these graduates can be used to mobilize other educated rural youth. In this way, they can override the urban-rural bias.

We have seen how so many educated youth, with no hope of employment or an economic future, have become part of violent political movements. They do so because they do have the skills to lead and impose authority over others. Thus, we have allowed such potential to become destructive and, as Professor Hettige notes, Universities have not been able in the past to deal with such a problem.

The project primarily seeks to link the University with the youth where both could work together and not only give youth the livelihoods that are appropriate, but also enable them to find the right way forward. The overall objective of the project is to explore all alternatives and bring rural youth into society with no hang-ups of social discrimination. Unemployed graduates are now being given the responsibility of developing a new approach for the promotion of appropriate livelihoods.

The success of this pilot project will ensure that the same approach be adopted across the whole University system and become applicable country-wide. The CASS, as the implementing tool, is now facilitating inter-departmental programmes, promoting study and research and providing a forum to engage in collaborative work. A National Youth Survey will be launched, funded by the UNDP and other institutions have also pitched in, among them being the South Asia Institute, the University of Heidelberg, Germany, the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation and the German Cultural Institute, Colombo. Such a survey will provide a national data base to facilitate the activities of youth-related projects now in place. Island-wide GHTZ projects are also asked to provide inputs.

The project is operating on three levels - the CASS university;a selected group of unemployed graduates of rural background; and youth in the villages. After an applied training, the undergraduates are deployed to selected rural areas where they will mobilize young people to initiate new employment opportunities. The undergraduates act as both mediators and catalysts. They will encourage rural youth to begin feasible lines of work. This creates a culture of working together among the youth and already the action areas are being assessed for their economic potential as well as the identification of interested investors and external support.

In other words, the youths will plan their future and launch their lives as they see fit, making of their villages places of true potential and building a future for themselves that would place them on par with the urban and remove for all-time that sense of inferiority they now feel. In this way there will be less need to migrate to the cities, to turn to lives of crime or to seek barrel-of-the-gun revolution.

The project hopes to produce in the end a model that could be presented to the relevant authorities and that can be replicated on a national scale while the CASS is prepared to continue the training of graduates so that all regions could benefit. Also, success will depend largely on how the public and private sectors would invest in the village areas, thus giving that vital fillip. Full implementation of the project begins in January 2000.

Many resource persons have been co-opted for the graduate training programme now being completed. They include Dr. W Hiriburegama of the Department of Botany, University of Colombo (Agrotechnology); Dr. (Mrs) Janaki Gunaratne of the CISIR (Food technology); Mr. Parakrama Weligamage of the IIMI (Agriculture), Dr. Wilbert Gunaratne of the Regional Development Studies Centre, University of Colombo (Regional Development); Mr. Kelum Jayasinghe of the Department of Management, University of Colombo (Marketing); Mr. R.M.R.B. Rajapakse, Head of the Department of Commerce, University of Colombo (Financial Management), Professor Jayanthi de Silva of the Department of Geography, University of Colombo (Resource Survey), Mr. A. Ranaweera of the National Institute of Social Development and Mr. L.R. Perera of the IIMI (Rural Appraisal).

The approach is most revolutionary, to be sure, and it holds new hope for thousands of village youth who in their "dark unfathomed caves" have little hope of becoming economically independent and proud citizens.

The final assessment of this project in October 2000 should give us a new way and then, hopefully, it will be hard to hear that old, old complaint: "Apata puthey magak nethay!'

Medical students wooed ahead of polls

Sweet medicine

By Feizal Samath

The six-month-long campaign by medical students finally achieved results last week with the government promising to absorb all new doctors from state universities for the next 10 years.

Students led by the Colombo Medical Faculty Union had been protesting against a government decision in July to freeze fresh recruitment in the public health system because of budgetary constraints.

''We are happy that the government has said it will provide government jobs for medical graduates but we also hope the minister is sincere in his announcement and will keep his word,'' Ousha de Silva, the Union spokesman said.

The announcement was made on December 2 at a news conference by Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, and appeared to have been taken, like some other recent decisions, with an eye on the upcoming presidential election on December 21.

The government has recently offered to increase the salaries of teachers and other government employees, raised pensions of retired state employees, given extra allowances to postal officials, created permanent jobs for graduate trainee teachers and rescheduled bank loans of farmers.

Where the money will come from is anybody's guess. ''Is this an election stunt? I don't know and hope not,'' said the Medical Faculty Union spokesman.

To political observers the government appears to have pulled out all stops to ensure a win for the president by appeasing all the disaffected sections.

''Why this hurry I wonder?'' asks the Union spokesman.

Nearly 800 students graduating from Sri Lanka's six state-run medical colleges each year have been assured permanent jobs in government hospitals by the health minister.

In addition a total of a 100 foreign qualified doctors would be given state employment annually — the government has said.

''Accordingly there won't be a shortage of doctors up to the year 2010 and medical students should not entertain any doubts about their job prospects,'' the minister said.

According to the minister, the decisions were taken on the recommendations of a committee appointed by President Kumaratunga to look into the grievances of the striking medical students.

De Silva said the government would now spend an additional 78 million rupees a year to provide employment to medical interns and implement other recommendations of the committee.

But on July 14 this year health authorities in Colombo told a batch of students completing their internship that the government was unable to provide them with appointments in state hospitals.

They were told to leave or remain as interns without appointments.

For the first time graduates from Sri Lanka's government-run medical colleges were left to fend for themselves. Until this year, they had always done their one-year internship in state hospitals, and later found permanent jobs there.

As medical students rose up in protest with parents joining the campaign, Health Minister de Silva confirmed the government's inability to recruit new interns or make new appointments.

As a solution, at that time, the minister offered a two-year contract for interns and for them to seek employment in the private sector. This was rejected by students.

Health Ministry sources, who declined to be identified, said the government had to stop recruiting because of cuts in the budget for expansion of hospitals and the creation of extra beds by the Treasury.

The Treasury has been forced to fund the government's war efforts, which have been intensified this year. The war costs Sri Lanka more than 50 billion rupees a year, but often the Treasury has to release additional funds for new equipment or manpower which is urgently required.

On November 18 the committee appointed by President Kumaratunga submitted its report to the health minister, but no action was taken.

Aware of the report, medical students then organized a demonstration outside the medical faculty at noon on Wednesday, December 1 urging the government to accept the recommendations of the report.

"Soon after that, we received a message from the minister saying he would like to meet us. At 6 p.m on the same day of the protest, he told a union delegation that he was accepting the recommendations of the committee. We have been desperately trying to meet the minister for a long time and were unable to do so. Why this sudden hurry I wonder?" asked union spokesman De Silva.

He said the appointment of the committee, some months ago, was also at the urging of the union for a special committee to look into their demands.

The committee, which included senior officials of the Health Ministry and other ministries, recommended raising the doctor- population ratio in Sri Lanka from the present 0.25 per 1,000 persons, as estimated in a recent World Bank study.

Sri Lanka's health budget as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) has also been low at 1.9 percent in 1995 compared to 5.6 percent in India, 5.0 percent in Nepal and 2.4 percent in Bangladesh, the same study showed.

Until 1983 when the civil war erupted in the north and west, Sri Lanka had been held up as a model for development for developing countries.

Within three decades of its independence in 1947, Sri Lanka has raised its literacy, health, and other social indicators. But in recent years, the country's much-touted social indicators are showing cracks as the war slowly impacts on the economy and social spending.

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