Antony Fernando – a symbol of the ages – and a turning point – funeral

Fishermen and their families in Chilaw protested (non political) a few days ago against price increases of 50% on Kerosene and 37% on Diesel. They were vociferous but unarmed and in the ensuing engagement with the police and various units of the armed forces, Antony Fernando was shot in the head in COLD BLOOD along with others, and Antony died of his wounds.

Force of that nature against a group of fishermen was unwarranted. There was NO reason for the presence of ARMED personnel to quell a regional protest over a legitimate issue that affects ordinary people’s livelihood, and as usual no direct responsibility was accepted by the Government. Antony’s funeral is later today.

Antony’s wife has only recently left for employment in the Middle East and is expected to be at the funeral, and he left behind a son and daughter, both of primary school age. This is reflective of the struggle of the majority of people in Sri Lanka. A parent going overseas to earn some money to supplement an insufficient family income for survival is quite a common event.

There is no reason for violence at the funeral, if the Armed Forces and Police stay out of sight. Their presence is not necessary for crowd control, as the Catholic Church is capable of organizing the crowd that comes to pay their respects to one of their own, even if it gets too large. It is normal for the people to blame the government as they must have expected people to agitate and protest against this unprecedented fuel price increase, and should show restraint against this natural phenomenon, rather than act surprised or point the finger at people bent on causing mayhem. The fact they did not do so is reflective of the thinking of suppressing the freedom of expression on a justifiable protest. One dreads to think of the consequences of future protests, as the issue is expected to grow nationwide.

Each unnecessary death, Antony’s, and Roshen Chanaka’s during the protests in Katunayake, only adds to the legitimacy of the protest movement against policies that are clearly aimed at imposing undemocratic edicts upon people that have not been sufficiently debated in parliament and a consensus reached. The current form of Dictatorial rule, where the Cabinet is used only to rubber stamp does not sit well with those affected by them, who wish to defy impositions as being unreasonable.

It is now apparent that rule where non violent protest is suppressed, is the beginning of the end of that style of government. It cannot last long and the sooner we see their downfall without bloodshed, the better it is for society and country.

The black February of bad news continues – and the people’s senses are numb

We are in for a difficult time in managing our personal finances as the spate of price increases does not have a limit or a time frame, as long as the threat of further devaluation of the Rupee remains. The pundits are now saying this was inevitable as the Government was living on borrowed time, but why were they so silent all this time? It was because the Government carried out a very successful campaign of misinformation, about the state of the Country’s finances. The foreign reserves position was not as rosy as was being portrayed, and the rising level of the balance of payments gap could not be contained forcing the need to either prop up the rupee or go for a devaluation on top of the steps taken to plug the budget deficit.

The government further wanted to get all the Local government elections out of the way. Now when they have strengthened their hold on power, are able to go for a two year period without elections, by which time they hope to have sorted out the problems that have arisen.

It was clear at the Budget presentation that the Government had an impossible deficit that it just could not fund out of borrowing. So they had no choice but to cut the subsidies that would directly reduce this deficit. It is therefore wrong to blame the price rises on the Iran crisis or the increase in the price of oil. Now, due to the pressure both on the rupee and the reserves and need for borrowing, the Treasury Bill rates have risen and we will see a further tightening of the money supply with increasing interest rates, which will see a further dampening of the growth rate. The latter is also required to prevent a free fall of the rupee.

The government has also raised the prices of fuel to a level, where at present they will also earn an additional tax, and be able to cushion fuel prices from a further devaluation. Therefore only the Fertilizer subsidy of Rs50Billion and some wasteful infrastructure spending remain to be tackled.

The truth now needs to be explained, as being a direct result of the policies of the government and as a direct result of fooling the public over the past three years. The pain would have been minor or not even felt if the action was timely at facing the crises when they occurred and not waiting for them to get out of hand, where there are no options but to go for these huge and painful steps that are definitely going to affect the poorest sections of the community especially hard despite the promises of subsidies to those who are at the bottom of the pile. Subsidies in the end DO NOT reach the truly deserving and it is only people’s imagination that they will help. It is therefore BAD POLICY SHAMEFULLY EXECUTED

What has happened to the People to be so servile to their leaders?

An unprecedented increase in the cost of Fuel was suddenly imposed without warning and there hardly seems to be a whimper of complaint let alone a spontaneous uprising. In other countries this could give rise to an immediate revolution and even an overthrow of the government in power. Students of Politics should try to explain this phenomenon. Is it that we are sufficiently affluent not to bother or is it that we are too complacent to complain and will only join in when there are others agitating on our behalf? I do not have an answer to this except to say that the tolerance level for punishment in the Sri Lankan body politic has proved to be extremely high, and the Govt. knows it and benefits from it.

This is a very worrying development, which has now enabled the people in power to rob the wealth of the nation with impunity, which I refer to as daylight robbery on a massive scale at every turn of one’s head. Is this a sign of things to come, where the Rajapkses have tested the waters? They have done the opinion research and realized that there will NOT be a revolt, so they calmly raised the prices, with a hint of some sort of subsidy that will hopefully give some relief for the poor, knowing full well that they have no intention of keeping any promise.

We will in days to come see one increase after another, coinciding with the need to raise wages first in the government sector and then in the Private Sector, neither of which the employers are able to concede, as the fuel shock has pervaded through both sectors, rendering some private businesses instantly loss making from being profitable. The resulting government taxation loss turning establishments from profit to loss is another burden the people of the country have to bear, as the government has shown NO intention of cutting the cost and trying to economize in order to face the difficult times ahead.

It is just a matter of time before further devaluation is upon us, first to Rs125 to the dollar and then when this is not sufficient to Rs150 to the dollar to make working overseas the only option for many of our enterprising citizens in order to provide for their families. The huge economic mismanagement of the Rajapakse Regime and its impact will only surface in time, when all of the culprits will be relaxing in the French Riviera having raided the coffers of the state bare, much in the way the old dictators of the Latin American Banana Republics did to their citizens.

This is an appeal to all thinking citizens of the country to stop being greedy and think for a moment of what your inaction will do to the future of the country, when you are in a position to make a change for the betterment of our country now.
To take a few examples to illustrate this point, I ask the reader, do you remember just a year ago how the pundits in power were talking about our stock market being the Asia’s or the World’s top performer? We were so drunk with sound bites that even then we failed to realize that not one red cent had come then, or in the 3 years since the end of hostilities from abroad to make this feat. It was all internally generated speculation, boosted by Government Leaders and their friends raiding the EPF coffers of our people for personal gain. The true figures are only now coming to light, when one sees the 100 Billion rupee loss those investments have now shown, while the pockets of those who were lined have filled their own. Now it is the world’s worst performing stock market! Quite a feat for the Chinthanaya!!!

I have said before and will repeat, “ALL development we have seen is thanks to the US$25Billion remitted by our citizens from work and savings from overseas, and the multiplier effect of that. If not for government waste and high interest rate borrowings from Chinese Banks, we could have seen a higher rate of growth”. We were therefore living under a false sense of security as the Government was taking the praise for actually stifling growth if truth be told. If the Rupee had held its true value of Rs130 to the dollar, we would have had a much higher growth rate and these remittances would have yielded a greater value to the recipients, enabling an even more effective allocation of resources to private sector led growth.

It is now down to convincing the duped public that there was mismanagement of the economy at embarrassingly large proportions, and the culprits are still trying to put a spin on it, blaming the IMF or USA or the Iranian oil embargo. It has NOTHING to do with them at all. When you go broke, you go to a bank for a lifeline, the bank insists on certain conditions before they are willing to lend any money, and so it is only prudent banking the IMF is performing here.

It is not too late to cut the 100 + ministers and their perks, cars and security. It is simply not necessary, and in fact a burden. We have tolerated this nonsense and deserve to be in this mess. We believed in confidence tricksters. How can anyone allow an uneducated thug behind the scenes to determine Stock Market Broker Credit policy just because he has the ear of the President who does not understand the nuances of Investment? All the small investors have lost their savings.

It is not too late to allow the management of the economy to technocrats who know what they are doing instead of sycophants who are only interested in lining their pockets. There is some deep pain ahead for the economy due to the misbehavior of those we have elected, but an immediate change of direction will prevent an apocalypse which we do not deserve and CAN avoid if we act NOW.

Is this the beginning of the end of the great betrayal?

As the saying goes, “you can fool some of the people for most of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time.” The people of Sri Lanka have been fooled by the age old smoke and mirrors trick, because it is what they see is what they believe, be it in the papers or TV and even for that matter with their own eyes. So when it comes to a road in their village it is the first impression that appears to count. Now even the roads are crumbling, as I saw with my own eyes in Biyagama yesterday, where we went to see 3 lanes that needed urgent repair.

I returned last night from a lightening protest on the Biyagama side of the Kaduwela bridge, a spontaneous one planned by the Youth of the area, only a few hours earlier, to protest against the results of bad government policies, namely the sudden massive increase in the prices of fuel, which in days to come will impact on every aspect of our lives. It seems that the people of Sri Lanka are generally complacent and it really requires a catalyst of major proportions to wake them up from their slumber of the inevitable.

I have been pointing out for years in my notes, that there is nothing called a free lunch. We have to pay for everything we use one day. If our economy is mismanaged we may have to pay even more, so when the State engages in wholesale lying using the media to such an extent that the majority of the people believe in these lies, when the truth finally dawns, it is disbelief, that prevails.

It is shameful that the day of reckoning has been delayed for years after the end of the hostilities, when it could have been faced then and cleared. But no, the government wanted to win even more elections by even bigger margins, so they hid the people from the truth, that we could not afford an overvalued currency, we could not afford high interest debt, to build all their white elephants, we could not afford to pay bribes to the rulers for engaging the Chinese to build our infrastructure at inordinately high rates of interest, but faulty ones at that – the Power station at Norochcholai is a prime example of bad technology, with technically poor construction.

Most of the people reading this blog have also been fooled for years, and for some they continue to be fooled successfully by the mind numbingly cunning campaign of misinformation, when the facts can be gleaned by common sense evaluation, call “KALPANAKARANNA”. I have been called to task most of the time with my questioning of this charade, but at least I have stuck to my guns under tremendous pressure, much from those so called armchair “COLOMBIANS”.
To put it simply the highly educated Columbians are saying the government had no choice but to cut subsidies, as it distorts economic growth. That is true, but not after squandering US$2Billion of borrowed money in defending an overvalued currency. (see my blog notes of a few years ago for that issue) It could have been done in good time, and not when forced to receive the latest US$800M tranche from the IMF to pay the overpriced bills, overpriced that is due to the cost of bribes being so big a part of the bill. These apologists for the Government continued with this as they also feasted from this gravy train, making billions in the stock market, when in all three years since the end of hostilities, more money has returned overseas in the form of profits, than actually invested in the stock market from overseas!! This despite the world’s leading stock exchange status that was constantly being boasted about by those in government but worse by those industrialists engaged in speculation.

Now the truth has come home, and even then it is being deflected as a Western Conspiracy against the country! The conspiracy is within the Leaders, with responsibility firmly resting right at the pinnacle of this pyramid, to let us get into this state inebriation with power. It was ironic only a day or two ago, when Mr 10% in Pakistan was bestowing honors on Mr 20% as only devils can do, that within hours of his return, the Pakistani PM was held in contempt of court, for preventing the natural course of justice in permitting the prosecution of the President for taking bribes. As the saying goes “birds of a feather flock together”.

For a person guided by horoscopes over economics, no wonder when the MIG 27 crashed this morning took flight to Singapore on a state visit to avoid the backlash at home. We cannot and must not hold this country hostage to corrupt and traitorous elements, as their one interest is personal aggrandizement and not the interests of the country. We work so hard to improve the quality of life of those who live in this country, to see those who are bent on destroying it either through ignorance or sheer bloody mindedness is something we just cannot accept, especially from people who have been able to fool so many so successfully for so long. It is time someone was able to very clearly and simply explain to people how we have allowed ourselves to get into state, when we could have done so much better by now with the Peace Dividend which we could have got, but chose to destroy at will, due to our Pied Piperish slavishness allowing the basic principles of democratic governance be destroyed, without as much as a wimp or murmur.

It is time to act, to show the door, even the prospect of gallows to traitors, so that no one will dare in the future even attempt the art of the betrayal, so that the true potential of this country can be realized, using our greatest resource, the people.

Deyata Kirula – Try taking a leak and then you know what a Ammata ………..place where even basic conveniences are 4 toilets for 100,000 people!!!

I have said it before and will say it again, we do not have anyone in office or in power who can think. The obscene amounts that have been spent on Deyata Kirula, and the waste attached to it could solve the education deficit for 2012, just to give an example of the magnitude of the costs, but go and look at how many toilets there are for people to relieve themselves? Yes, just 4, and how about the stink?

I cannot believe how the citizens of this country tolerate such bombastic excesses without as much as a murmur, and the Media do not even report it for fear of being labeled as kill joys. Come on we have a council of ministers and higher ups appointed to organize this event. Why don’t they plan for the required toilet facilities for people who come hundreds of kilometers to this place and spend a few hours going through the exhibits? How about the people manning the 1000+ stalls? There are port-a-loos that can be transported to the locations for events such as these. I would say a minimum of 50 for women, and about 25 for men should be in place as well as people to make sure it is kept clean, so people do not have to hold their noses and go into a place wreaking of excreta.

A simple fact of overlooking such a basic need, completely undermines any positives this exhibition of national pride, and State PR can provide. Just because the planners have access to high speed convoys to go to star class establishments they forget there are others less fortunate. I mentioned this issue earlier when it come to the pot holes at all bus stands in every city, that splash the passenger every rainy day with no one to look into their interests. This is another example of the same manner of thinking. It is now up to the people of Sri Lanka to stand up for basic rights and not allow a state to steamroll people anyway they want and force them to hold their bladders to bursting point yet again.

It is time instead of lying about an impossible feat of 2.5million visitors when 400,000 have passed through the gates, to get real about having an exhibition that people really feel relaxed in, comfortable, and can learn, enjoy, be entertained and above all see what it is they can take back from the event to further enhance the quality of their lives, rather than put up with mind bogglingly callous treatment at the hands of the establishment, that has turned the Kirula into a Kunugoda.

The people of Sri Lanka deserve better from their rulers, who seem to think they know what they want. Ask any lady in Sri Lanka, what the biggest problem in going out in public is and she will say the lack of clean, safe, public toilets!!!!

The IUSF helps the Government – We need a rational basis to improve the ‘Free Education System’

The Inter University Students Federation or IUSF colloquially knows as ‘Anthare’ takes its ideology from pre JVP times into a Marxist Leninist way of the world that is now not even accepted by those traditionally assisted this philosophy.

It is therefore easy for the Government to point the absurdity of their demands, consigning them into a bunch of morons in public debate. A seminar held yesterday under their auspices brings out a cabal of extreme left wing groups, which included the Maoist Students Federation, that called for agitation against Private Universities being set up, and that Free Education is a right of all up to Tertiary level.

Let us go back to basics. In Sri Lanka today, Free Education at Primary and Secondary Level is available to all who seek it. At Tertiary level it is only available to about 10% of those who qualify to enter University. The other fact also is that this so called free education sucks in quality!!!! It may be due to the incompetence of the management of Education by the bureaucrats, the lack of adequate funding by government, the incorrect perception of Education by teachers as a career opportunity rather than a dedicated vocation, and the expectation of individual rights by citizens, without a commitment on their part to make it work as good parents or school supporters.

Based on this reality, it is impossible to offer a GOOD free education system for all, due to a combination of the factors referred to in the previous paragraph. We must then make do with what we have. We cannot move mountains, but we need to work in partnership that is the State, the Public, (including parents, sponsors, companies, past pupils) and Private Sector educational institutions to improve the quality of education offered to the Citizens of this country so that their true potential in maximized, and thus lead to a greater degree of justifiable economic growth, achieving the targets set for quality of life of all our citizens.

This partnership is NOT happening as the State has failed to take the lead in promoting a policy that is realistic, implementable, along with a proper allocation of resources to achieve these goals. This is what the fight should be FOR. Not against those who wish to spend money of their own to set up institutions which will charge fees and admit pupils at their own risk so that they can earn a qualification they (students) believe will lead to better prospects than what a non fee levying state institution could offer. I therefore hope a sensible National student union will emerge to agitate for this Basic DEMAND on behalf of students.

Educated youth in search of employment – A case study – points to ponder

I helped a complete stranger one day over the phone in giving ideas of how to draft a cover letter in obtaining an interview for a job, which was part of her assignment for the two year full time Diploma in English course she is currently following at the Advanced Technological Institute in Dehiwela. She has just commenced her second year, and there are now 60 in the batch with 59 girls and one boy. When the course commenced there were 175 and many have transferred out or dropped out. The minimum qualification for entry to this course is either an A or B in English at the O levels and a pass at the A levels.

There are a smattering of such institutes dotted all over the Island, which offer A level students who have not obtained sufficient marks to enter the University system, an alternative. The courses are usually two years in length if they are full time and are for subjects such as IT, English, Business Administration, perceived as being necessary in obtaining employment.

These institutions offer Free Tuition, and some burseries and mahapola shols for living expenses, and are also part of the Ministry of Higher Education. There is the possibility of doing part time courses there too, while in employment and for that there are tuition fees. In this facility there is a girl’s hostel, where first years are housed, with the boys having to find accommodation locally. Many students follow other courses at the same time, and the student in question, while following this course is also studying for an external degree at the Kelaniya University in Arts, specializing Dance and Drama. The classes for the latter being on Saturdays.

I met this student at my office yesterday, as she was seeking my assistance in obtaining employment, preferring to go part time, while doing a job as it costs her Rs10,000 a month to live, her home being in Embilipitiya. She said that she has topped her batch at her college as well as all the similar colleges in the island and was seeking even a job as a receptionist as she is fluent in English also.

My observation was that they are totally unprepared in knowing how to get about finding a job, even though they now live in the metropolis, where there is a pool of jobs available, and heavily advertised, but for which the lack of experience is a huge handicap. This is where the ability to prepare a relevant resume and good cover letter showing the applicant knows what he or she wants, along with the confidence at interviews gives them an edge, and also the offer of working without pay, for a few months to show their aptitude in a given job, hitherto untested can be measured and competency tested in a real world working environment.

All this points to is the crying need for a life skills development workshop upon completion of the A levels, to be held soon after sitting the exams and not after the results are obtained. Students can then be equipped to make choices that take into account their personal preferences and not just with reference to parental or peer pressure about what they should do.

The Present crisis in the State University System – and a way forward

I am writing this in mid January 2012. As of today around 250 students have been suspended or arrested due to various bogus or valid reasons in many of the 8 State University campuses around the Island. Even the day before, the Minister of Higher Education was booed by the students of the Jaffna University, for insinuating that the LTTE is active within the State University system and are inciting the students. Of course there are also the ragging incidents with the new intake that have also led to some of the arrests and suspensions amongst the numbers referred to above. In that aspect, where ragging is a kind of initiation into a mindset of trying to equalize students, by especially forcing the individualistic and the somewhat perceived privileged into adopting a comradeship, I reject as outdated. This culture should be gradually eased with reason prevailing.

Having dealt with ragging with a brush stroke that will not endear me to the student body, I hope they will see the bigger picture of what truly ails the State Tertiary sector and agitate for an improvement in both their Educational environment and also the value of the degree for which they have sacrificed not just financially but also in time, as many are past 26 when they finally receive their degree certificates, an utter waste of talent, when I consider that I had a degree a few days past my 21st birthday and was in full time employment two months later.

There is one main reason I believe for the true rationale for student agitation. That is the interference by the state into a big brother autocracy of trying to manipulate the mind of the students and also to impose a militaristic state security apparatus as an extension of the power of the dictatorship that is now being IMPOSED on the placid and unsuspecting populace of Sri Lanka. Added to which the back door disadvantages the state system is bound to face with the gradual growth of the Private Tertiary Sector as well as the Fee Levying State sector in Education, should be what the Students agitate against. The political appointees to the positions of Vice Chancellors of the Universities are also detrimental to the independence of the State University system and one which must be reversed.

The agitation is led by a motley collection of nationally known, but politically void individuals professing allegiance to either official JVP or its breakaway rebel group, but who do not have a rational answer to the students grievances. These opportunists have taken center stage and a following amongst the student numbers only due to a lack of alternative leadership by the UNP or a UNP affiliated student body that can show the students an alternative to the present anti Govt. IUSF unions. This alternative is essential as a counter to the current status quo.
The misguided leadership who are against the introduction of Private Universities, when they already exist, and who organized a now banned demonstration from Peradeniya to Colombo, are inevitably going to lead the students in a pied piper sense into an abyss. Students ought to realize this and seek an alternative.

I can see that this unhealthy direction will to lead to some regretful casualties, which the IUSF is likely hoping for, also for political gain. Only then can they show the other apathetic students that they are fighting for a cause. So let us show these students that they have some real issues with which to fight the Governemnt, and not some nebulous ones they will not be able to change.

I note below some of the real grievances that the whole student body should agitate about and if that is done with sufficient vigor, will be able to change the stance and possibly some of the policies in a direction that will truly benefit the students in the State Sector. Students in the state sector must face one reality, and that is those students who can afford WILL go the path of Private Tertiary Education either in Sri Lanka or overseas, with the possible exception of the study of Medicine.

Then we are left with those who do not have the funds, and are chosen to enter the University system. They need Educational Freedom in the sense that they should be permitted to learn and be taught free from political interference. There should transparency in the appointment of Vice Chancellors to ensure this freedom. The number of places with no Tuition Fees must be guaranteed at say 25,000 per annum so as to give a chance to those qualified to enter the system.

Secondly, as is inevitable, the Private Sector will attract a crème of the academic staff due to the ability to pay. In order that the State Sector does NOT fall behind, competitive remuneration to teaching staff given, but with accountability, with regard to minimum teaching hours per week. The 750+ staff who have skipped their bonds and remain overseas having got their PhD and Masters, are likely to return and those not, held to make good the bond, which was signed in good faith.

The resources allocated to the State Tertiary sector must increase. The Universities must be challenged to obtain quality classifications that put them on a par with International Universities. This is so that the degree these students come out with is of value in the international marketplace, where they have to compete for jobs. It is implied that English and IT skills are included in this resource allocation, and a true sense of self worth as graduates without a sense of entitlement are produced. They must understand that the state does not owe them a job, just because they have a degree, but instead realize the value of FREE EDUCATION.
Fourthly, the Government owned quasi military security must be withdrawn forthwith as they act as the listening arm of the State apparatus, and have now proved to be counterproductive to educational freedom and freedom of thought and expression, something that is valued highly in the Tertiary Educational sector.

The valuable lost time in waiting for entrance and the plethora of delays that just cost the economy, of a productive educated professional, must be reduced, with prominence given to the time value of money, that seems to be absent in the Govt. sector and which contributes to the mindset, that does not take account of it. This is also due to the lack of tertiary education of the MPs who are unable to understand this basic principle of economics.

Sixthly, Career counseling and guidance must be provided for students in the State Sector for all intakes and all years, so that instead of blaming the students for being unable to find jobs, the students are guided on how to find jobs and shown what is available both here and overseas, so they build their goals in life while at University rather than come out of it not knowing what opportunities are available with the qualifications they have. Life skills must be part of this program.

A fairer system of bursaries for students of poorer families, so that the principles of Free Education can be emboldened, but which carry with it some responsibilities upon completion, must be adopted as the current Mahapola scholarship amounts in real terms are now worth 10% of what they were when they were originally awarded. This has not kept pace with inflation, and the extra awarded for excellence must be made much bigger for incentive to perform while at University.

Point no eight in this list which is in no particular order of significance, is the question of competitiveness vis a vis the private sector. If the private sector is able to provide scholarships of say 5% that can further enhance the places available for disadvantaged pupils, while at the same time permitting the state sector a release valve to allocate resources to improving quality and not more places. The latter being taken by the private sector and an increasingly affluent middle class, who is able to pay for State owned but fee levying institutions such as the NIBM which is rapidly expanding nationwide.

I believe my proposals above are worth agitating for, as they are all for the benefit of existing and future students and the state would then be forced to allocate more funds, which they only have to divert from the heavy allocation to defense spending, where there is a gross mis-allocation of resources as part of the effort to provide security to an increasingly isolated regime, from its own people.

A Business University – National School of Business Management(NSBM)

NIBM (National Institute of Business Management) affiliated new University has been approved by the Cabinet, to be set up on 50 Acres of land in Homagama owned by the UDA, with an initial Investment of Rs5Billion. The Foundation is expected to be laid in March with Academic Activities set to commence in 2014.

The idea is to allow students with suitable O levels to go straight into this College and get a degree within 4 years, thus short circuiting the current cumbersome route where it takes 5 to 6 years after sitting for A levels to actually walk out with a degree. It sounds eminently sensible at first glance, and they expect an annual intake of about 12,000 students (current entry into 8 state Universities is 22,500 per annum) The idea is for degree programs to cover areas such as Management, Marketing, IT, Engineering and Design. I have only extracted this from a government owned newspaper and to that extent I qualify that what is said, proposed and actually likely to be achieved can vary immensely to possible even make my blog entry about this a waste of time.

I am taking the trouble to cover this information only on the assumption that if it is in fact successful there are many basic foundations in the Education of Sri Lankans, which must be in place before we can even begin to contemplate this. As the reality from ground breaking to opening is ambitious it is more likely it will happen around 2015 or 2016, and the initial intake is likely to be no more than 2,000 students. However I applaud the establishment of such an institution, especially to short circuit the time it takes to get a degree, a wholly wasteful exercise in Sri Lanka. I had an honors degree in Economics almost at my 21st birthday, as I studied in the UK, while most of the young people I have to liase with on youth programs only get their degrees when they are 26 or after, and often know a lot less than I did at 21!!

I believe this University though owned by the Government will be a “for profit” or at least fee based to cover the cost of education, and thereby not qualify as an Institution of Free Education in the Tertiary Sector. It is possible therefore to offer courses of excellence and courses that are directly catered to specific types of managerial jobs. To that extent I believe it will produce graduates who should be able to find employment in the private sector and not the state sector and also have to make a huge financial sacrifice to go there, and thereby are unlikely to waste their time. In reality this is another Private University, although owned by the Government and funded by it. The success or failure of this is completely dependent on the commitment and caliber of the Board and the funds allocated together with the level of political interference in its activities.

It will be interesting to see whether my predictions or the governments will turn out to be more accurate. I also predict that the cost will double to Rs10B and the project will be fraught with wastage and kickbacks that will delay its opening to the detriment of the students and the country.

My Wish for 2012 is for the Sri Lankan Journalists to use ‘Common Sense’ in helping their audience to think!!!

New Year’s day 2012 and I almost had a row with my Dad, when he said that according to the papers, Commercial Bank was doing a great job in their CSR by helping 6000 students with Computers and related assistance for IT.

I told him to read further and actually think. The Bank is in the business of using CSR to tell the public how good they are in helping worthy causes so that they get a lot of goodwill. However if Commercial Bank gives one computer to a school with 10,000 students they will say they helped 10,000 students with Computers and IT, because our people are so dumb as to believe what they read. In fact the Principal who has not internet or Computer is more than likely to have it at his office to teach himself computing as he would not want to look a fool while his students learn IT. “KALPANAKARANNA” please.

So the point I am trying to make is that there is always a story behind a story, and we only are shown and led to believe the surface ONLY. So let us get back to basics and teach the audience how to think and rationalize. After all many so called news items in Sri Lanka especially in the papers are planted items. They are either informercials, advertorials both paid by the company or government to boast about something they are about to do or done, and make it sound so much grander or of some journalist putting something by a friend or the owner putting some items of information he wants the readers to see.

It is very important in the present context when we have a Government blessed with misinformation to be able to see the wood from the trees and make up our minds as to what to believe. I call upon all journalists who are worth two cents in Sri Lanka to lend some thought to this and view the information for what it is and not be as gullible as the audience or readership, as they must have more grey hairs of common sense to guide their readership etc. into a frame of mind from which to come to their own conclusions.

With these few words I wish my readers every success in 2012 and please try to understand that my crusade in this blog is for the betterment of the great country of Sri Lanka so that its citizens can grow up, especially our young generation to be valuable citizens contributing immensely for the overall good of this country. I thank those who are sincerely doing their best in this regard and challenge others to take on the mantle as it is a noble cause that will give them the “pina” “good Karma” or any other merit that they deserve in this life of the lives from here on.