The Bottom Line last week told the world the story of R. Anushangan, a boy from Jaffna, first in the district who surpassed the odds and found his way to a scholarship at Otterbein University in Ohio.

The story was about the boy and not about the system but since many inquiries were received about the UGC’s role in his story it’s time to set the record straight.

Anushangan’s story was his experience, but when the allegations of unfair treatment were presented to the UGC, Chairman Professor Samaranayake said that mistakes can happen and that Anushangan’s case will be looked into.

However he also explained that due to the war burdened situation in the country, the University of Jaffna which is a fully functioning state university with a capacity of 1905 students, was not allocated students from the South and so many students from the North were directed to it.

“A lot of people are upset with the UGC over various reasons,” he told The Bottom Line, “From every culture, from every district there is some grievance about the system. But we had to be practical. We could not send students from the South to Jaffna so we have to make up for the quota.”

When asked why the first in the District was not given the University of his choice, Samaranayake explained that the rankings were given by the Examination Department and that the UGC did their selection on the basis of the Z-Score. While the top 10 % of the academic achievers get the University of their choice, the remaining receive seats based on their Z-Score and then the district they belong to. When asked if Anushangan’s Z-Score of 2.1078 was insufficient to enter the Universities of Sri Jayawardenapura and Colombo requested by him, he said that the matter will be looked into.

“We have an equitable system where we say we don’t select the students, they get selected. Every University in this country is an internationally recognized education institution. And even though the system is automatic, mistakes can happen. Students are ambitious and that is a good thing. We wish him the best and we will look into the matter.”