It looks like I was in a tree but I wasn’t
Saw this big medical students protest today. As far as I can tell they were protesting against PMC in Malabe, which I assume is Private Medical College. Their signs said ‘keep free education free, etc.’ I don’t really agree with them. I think we should keep the free education system, for doctors especially it’s OK. There are, however, so few spots in university and so many talented human beings that don’t get a shot. They should have the option of a self-sustaining, private system.
Sri Lankans already pay through the nose for tuition to supplement gaps in the public system. One also goes to Uni in the hopes of getting a job which can pay back your uni loans. Even public universities in the states have some paid component, but the degree also has value. Here we have a lot of unemployable graduates and a lot of people who want an education but simply don’t qualify for the limited spots. Rather than protesting against the PMC, I think we need more of the same. Certainly not less of the public system, but we really need to create more opportunities.
yep… I mean, the amount of kids who have to go to Bangladesh to do the medical degree! We should give them a PMC here and keep all that money inside the country! :/
Recently had a chat with a med student about this. According to her they are only protesting cos they think the Malabe place has dubious cred. But that’s just probably an excuse, I know someone who’s doing the med program at Malabe and it seems quite a legit russian degree, they also have adequate lab and other learning facilities
Let me put in my two cents.
I believe, one of the reasons for these protests which goes unsaid is the insecurity of the public university student. At the moment, the only two faculties in these unis that guarantee you a job are Engineering and Medicine (while you’re well off if you are at Faculty of Science as well) and they fear that these private unis will take away their job opportunities. I also think the private universities is not such a bad idea, but at the same time authorities need to assure (not just by words but by action) that they will not threaten the public uni students. Meanwhile, improving the quality of education in ALL the public unis will also be a good idea. If this is done correctly, I doubt many will bother to protest.
Indi, you are right and this situation is crazy.
very, very selfish of this mob.
My thoughts exactly.
Sach, the main reason is because I’ve noticed that most public uni students have a largely stupid reason for this. When I asked my uni-going cousin as to why they protest, she says this
We study so hard to get into uni, studying day and night, and these people get in just because they have money
That is extremely lame. Whatever said and done, whether you have money or not, in the end, it’s the clever which will excel, not any Tom, Dick or Harry who gets into a pvt or a public uni
The well off can send their kids abroad but it’s a huge drain of foreign currency. The kids have to study unbelievably hard to get into the local medical schools. The Chairman University Grants Commission said in a school prize giving speech that medical students are mentally unstable because of all the pressure.
My elder daughter sat for the local OL’s Which is such an absurd, unreasonable and difficult exam that I pulled out both my kids out of the local system. I really did not want them to go through the torture of AL’s.
My husband agreed in spite of being a local academic
There is NO such thing as free education in this country just like there is no free medical care!
Parents pay bribes under the guise of ‘building funds’ to admit their children to schools, move house or change their electricity bills by bribing Grama Sevaka’s and other officials to get into the good Colombo schools, pay exorbitant van fees, tuition fees (on average, private AL tuition fees per student is in the range of Rs.100,000) and on presents to the school principal and teachers.
Education in Sri Lanka needs to be liberalized so that we save the few bucks of foreign exchange we’ve still got. Universities here do turn out a few bright sparks, but most of our graduates are unemployable and with some major attitudinal problems.
Let’s just hope, that with a new regime in place, civil society will speak out and actively work towards getting this mess cleaned up. We need to completely revamp the HRD landscape and it will mean, that heads will roll.
CT, pls read my comment again and you’d find that I have said one of the reasons for these protests which goes unsaid. The reason you’ve mentioned is given by some and if you think carefully, the reason for THAT is what I said. They are insecure because they think all their hard work will be in vain if someone who couldn’t get through to the local unis will get the jobs.
How much a BSc offered by a local uni would worth, do you think, if the education wasn’t free? Trust me you don’t get this level of free education elsewhere in the world.
And about the whole problem, I believe this is where the problem is. All the degrees offered by local unis in SL, bar Engineering and Medical degrees, are only academic qualifications. Yet they take minimum of three years to be completed and by the time a university student graduates he/she is about 25. Which means they are in need of employment, but they struggle to find adequate positions because of the lack of their professional qualifications. This is very much the case with the degrees offered by Arts and Commerce faculties in particular. Even in the faculty of science, it is the same though they are able to find employment relatively easily. For example, I am a graduate in Mathematics from a local uni, but hell, I’ve barely used what I learnt there while at work. Simply, the degrees are a bit too much academic.
So what needs to be done is, restructure the degree programs so that they are at least somewhat professional qualifications as well. This will lead for students to be able to find better employment, and I assure you that if it’s the case, nobody (bar a few nutcases) will give a fuck about private universities.
Schoolgirl commits suicide- dailymirror.lk
Is this the state of free education in Sri Lanka? A grade 9 girl hanging herself for new exercise books? I dont think it makes any difference opening private universities in Sri Lanka, The rich can afford it. The poor find it hard to afford free education. Whats worse, Gammanpila says our per capita has reached 4000$.
My dear Sach, restructuring the degree programs is a huge undertaking that will meet with immediate resistance from those sitting in their ivory towers. Too much time has been wasted and we’ve sat around and only talked about revamping the under-performing school and university system in Sri Lanka. The politicians have ‘fucked up’ our country and done the most damage to education. The way forward is to liberalize education but within a framework of checks and balances so that unscrupulous (and there are many of these already operating) aren’t allowed in. But, this is a huge issue which needs a concerted and determined effort by the next regime that we hope to see in power, soon.
My cousin is in second year in the Bangladesh Uni. He’s a brilliant student but he wasn’t brilliant enough to get in here. So he pays a hefty fee to go do it there.
If there was a Private uni in Sri Lanka at that time he would have paid and gone to that one. It would be easier for him and it would be an economic gain for the country as the money would have stayed in the country.
And it’s not like Universities just take people who have the money. There are entry requirements so CT next time tell that to your cousin.
I am a 100% product of Sl free education form kindergarten to university.
However, we need to keep free education but at the same time open gates to those who miss the opportunity simply because they miss a point or two. Also, we can save a lot of money within the country.
One other thing is that no one can really stop a student from going overseas and returning with a degree. So why not give them the opportunity to do it here? Plus most those miss to get to uni miss it by tiny margines. Also, we can monitor the private institutions more closely so thet the standards are maintained. This we can’t do with overseas institutions that give a degree to every tom, dick and harry.
I have a true storey:
A school class mate of mine did his ALs in Bio stream. First attempt 4’F’s. Second Attempt also 4’F’s..! Essentially, he kept a school record by getting 8Fs in ALs..! But his father hadsome connections with JVP and he was sent to Russia to study medicine. He is back now and is working in a hospital in the East..!
Since we are already allowing this, I do not see why it is wrong to allow a student who misses national university after passing ALs well to study medicine.
There’s always resistance. But you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.