University students ‘cat paws’ for political gains

By U.D.Ariyarathna

The free education given to students by the Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, is a gift for the whole younger generation of Sri Lanka. Almost all the citizens have enjoyed the benefits of free education given by C.W.W.Kannangara. Unfortunately, there were conspiracies against this scheme which have not decreased but increased since then. From primary education these conspiracies have now succeeded in infecting the higher educational system of Sri Lanka, the universities.
These conspirators plan to privatise the universities declaring that the present university education system is neither valid nor up to date. Thus, instead of healing the wounds, they suggest the removal of the whole limb. Degrading the value of the Sri Lankan university degree is the first step to this. In addition, rumours are being spread that no employee is prepared to offer job opportunities for such graduates thus discouraging a whole generation from free education, and attracting unsuspecting victims to their web of private degrees.
Making a mountain out of a molehill is another habit of these conspirators. Even the smallest disturbance within the university is given high publicity through which they try to instil in the public that undergraduates are ‘good for nothings’. However they ignore the fact that, all these university students are part of the very same Sri Lankan public, and that they have entered the university by facing the most competitive examinations.
It is pathetic to see innocent students being used as ‘cat’s paw’ by certain political parties in order to fulfill their narrow ideologies. It is disappointing to note that both electronic and printed media frequently join their hands with such politicians. The best example for this situation are the recent conflicts between the students of the University of Kelaniya. The media gave high publicity to the incidents, scaring away the parents and next generation of students to apply for admission to the university. As a student of the University of Kelaniya and as a witness who was trapped in the middle of the fight, I am very disappointed by the one sided stories of all media. One news channel went to the extent of making the news concerning the University of Kelaniya as its main headline story, ignoring the military victories in the North.
Witness
I, as a student independent of all political or student unions, would like to report what I witnessed during this conflict. On February 24, 2009 when the fight started, I was inside the main IT Centre which was situated in the heart of the Faculty of Science. Since most of us were from faculties of Humanities, Social Sciences Commerce and Management, we did not dare get out and were trapped inside. Then, a group of students with their faces covered, armed with batons, stormed into the IT Centre, ignoring the protest of the IT staff. We took refuge in labs, but the thugs got hold of a student of the Faculty of Humanities. He was dragged out by his hair, kicked by a dozen and his head was banged onto a wall. We were trapped there, until the arrival of Police and lecturers.
Any damage caused to the IT centre was due to the fault of the Faculty of Science itself.
Not stopping with that, they also attacked the Unit where students used to rehearse (this Unit being a part of a department of the Faculty of Humanities), which is also situated in the neighbourhood of the Faculty of Science. A lecture was in progress at the time, but the thugs insulted the lecturer and beat the two boys who happened to be at the lecture. They went as far as damaging the property of the department, which represented years of toil of the students. This damage is not repayable by money alone.
Sadly, neither ‘balanced news’ nor ‘news first’ nor ‘truth first’ considered these damages important to report. On the contrary, all damages to the Faculty of Science, which were a couple of broken glasses and test tubes, were video graphed neatly and reported.
On the following day, February 25, 2009, the students of the Faculty of Science actually invaded the Faculty of Commerce & Management and damaged their study rooms. This appears a very planned attack, since some of the invaders were wearing black ninja caps to cover their faces, and when the students of the Faculty of Commerce retorted, they noticed that they were being videographed from the upper stories of the Faculty of Science. Though I have stated that it was the students who attacked, suspicions have now risen as to the true identity of these thugs. It not a secret that party politics is behind all this, and the wearing of black masks suggests involvement of professional criminals. Otherwise, students have degraded into the state of professional criminals. It would not be the first time that outsiders attacked university students in the guise of students.
The media reports also ignored that four university students of the Faculty of Science who were arrested, quite in contrary to what they did concerning the arrests of girls and university lecturers of the Faculty of Social Sciences. In fact, one news channel keeps repeated those old video clips. In addition, this same news channel now stresses that arrest orders have been issued to the villages of the suspected students, but kept silent about the culprits who are already arrested.
Secondary motives
There are secondary motives behind these attacks within the university level: to get the cultural festival of the University, ‘Bihidora Abhiyasa’ banned, and to buy more time to submit their incomplete projects and assignments. So far, this dirty plan has succeeded. The Vice-Chancellor has declared that no student activity is allowed after five o clock in the evening, and obviously, this includes the pride of our university, ‘Bihidora Abhiyasa’. This festival is not limited to a certain group of students, but any student who loves fine arts, literature and community activities, regardless of their stream of education. I am sure everyone with good sense would agree that fine arts and literature has the effect of curing the unrest of minds. If all such inter – student activities are banned, there would not be much difference between a university and a private tuition class, and the hostilities of oppressed minds would be impossible to cure.
The exhibition in honour of the golden jubilee of the university is also in doubt. According to the spokesman of the Science Student Union, who gave a voice cut to the media, it is their exhibition. But I must make a note here that it is the exhibition of the whole university, since it’s the 50th anniversary of all the faculties.
Many people including journalists seem to forget that every story has two sides. Though I belong to none of these sides personally, I consider it my duty that people should look at the inside perspective as well.
One student union goes as far as to make the background colour of their posters to resemble the colour of the political party they represent. I say this not because one party is totally to blame, or the other party is totally flawless, but to bring to notice that both sides have their ups and downs. In this context, the ultimate result is that the university has been closed at the will of the minority, and the majority who did not get involved in of these activities are now deprived of their education. It is obvious that when the university reopens, the burden of this closure too, falls upon the student. Unfortunately both the student unions seem to have forgotten it or ignored it, being led by political parties.
It is the duty of all university students to uphold the validity of their degree, and be an honour to the society instead of playing puppets to any political party. The country already has enough troubles without inter-faculty wars.
My final appeal goes to parents, who may be shocked by the news reported by media and may be changing their idea of sending their child to the university. The experience of university life is a valuable experience for any students, and I am sure all the graduates agree with me on this, whether the memories are bitter or sweet. It is a unique social experience together with academic concerns, and every student of Sri Lanka has the right to it. The conspiracies of tuition masters should not succeed and let your child enjoy the benefits of the free education.