By Paneetha Ameresekere

The IMF’s senior resident representative in Colombo Dr. Nadeem Ul Haque viewed education as a commodity that could be sold in the market. ‘My party does not subscribe to that view,’ said JVP parliamentarian Bimal Ratnayake, speaking at a seminar on ‘Education’ organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) which was held over the week-end.

Ratnayake further said that state-run universities would stand to lose if private universities are allowed to be set up, as they would ‘grab’ the lecturers currently serving in universities by offering them higher salaries.

Another drawback would be that priority, when it came to jobs, would be to those who have attended a private university, rather than those who have attended a government university. "This is already happening in Sri Lanka, where the private sector prefers to recruit those who have passed out from private universities," said Ratnayake.

‘We are not against reforms,’ he however said. Education is a US$ 1,000 billion market. But I don’t belive that education is a commodity that could be marketed, he said. I know that English is important, Ratnayake added.

‘But are education reforms forced down our throats by multi-nationals?’ he asked.

In 1960, Sri Lanka expended 4.27% of its GDP on education, but now it is only 2.3%. He also said that the CCC has done what the Education Ministry has not done all these years by organising this conference.

Prevented

Tertiary Education and Training Minister Kabeer Hashim responding to Ratnayake said that due to state university accommodation problems, between 60,000 to 70,000 are prevented from entering varsities.

‘You cannot say that all those 60,000 to 70,000 who are deprived from entering universities are from rich families,’ said Hashim. Children from rich families in any case end up in places such as Harvard and MIT, Hashim said.

He further said that free education had to be protected as long as there was poverty in the country. Of those who pass the A’levels, only 12,500 gain entrance to varsities, while the balance 60,000 are left behind, Hashim said. ’So, we have to find alternatives,’ he said.

"The vocational training sector will have to be strengthened. Others, who don’t find entrance to university, follow courses in fields such as accountancy and marketing, while still others go overseas for education," said Hashim.

Earlier, IMF’s senior resident representative Dr. Nadeem Ul Haque, commenting on the country’s ‘literacy’ indicators, asked the question ‘where has all the education gone?’

"It does not contribute to growth? So, we must move from quantity to quality education," he said.

Professor Swarna Jayaweera, responding to Haque said that state intervention in education had resulted in bringing about gender equality, the reduction in mortality rates and high social indices.

Former Education Minister under the PA regime Susil Premjayanth in his speech said that 260,000 students will sit the A’Levels this year. He said that though 50% of the 240,000 who sat the A’Levels last year qualified to gain entry into universities, of that number, only 15,000 were actually allowed in.

"We have not thought of the rest," Premjayanth said. All governments should be blamed for this state of affairs, he added. "We should sit down and discuss what should be done with regard to the unemployed graduates, numbering some 50,000," he said.

More than 30% of undergraduates follow Arts courses. And many of them, when they pass out are unemployable. "No degree courses are offered in either nursing or in the para-medical fields in our campuses," he said.

As there is a dearth of nurses locally, Apollo Hospital had to get down 200 nurses from Kerala. Some other private hospitals are also employing nurses from Kerala. While Sri Lanka needs 15,000 nurses, the country has unemployed graduates, Premjayanth said.

The CCC and the private sector should get together and manage technical colleges, the former minister suggested.