Very little in Sri Lanka at the moment inspires hope. We are facing an existential crisis that was inconceivable just six months ago. Sri Lanka is also, ironically, just a year away from marking the 75th year of its independence. As we reflect on these seven decades of postcolonial nation building, and as we confront a future of extreme precarity, our scorecard as a country is not a proud one.
The current economic crisis has hit the country’s education sector severely. From pre-school children to undergraduates, students, teachers and non-academic staff attached to our educational system, have been affected in unprecedented ways.
#GotaGoHome captures a diverse range of demands. One of these is the demand for ‘kramaya peralamu’ or systemic change.
Sri Lankans continue to protest against a corrupt government and, especially, demand the discontinuation in office of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his extended family. As the call for the government to step down intensifies and becomes ever more specific, I start to wonder whether a government, however mighty, can bring about this sort of socio-economic free fall on its own.
The education system, to which we belonged, then and today, is not transformative, not in the way we envisioned. As far as education was concerned, the solution to the lockdown was to merely move from on-site to online, with little acknowledgement of the students
I use the hashtag #GoHomeGota to mark this watershed moment in Sri Lanka’s postcolonial history. It is in honour of the people who have stormed the streets to demolish the Bastille of a dynastic and nepotistic political regime that has left Sri Lanka in an economic meltdown. People of every class and creed have united against a “common enemy”; the Rajapaksas.
We are witness today to events that are unprecedented in our postcolonial history. Hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets spontaneously in protest; in an extraordinary demonstration of democratic fervour. The calls for change are loud and spectacular. They are driven by anger at a small elite group —the Rajapaksas, who have …
The democratic moment today: A call for action and reflection Read More »
Over a month ago, I wrote in this column about the way the current Quality Assurance processes, including the Qualifications framework, has little space for Humanities and Social Sciences
A month ago, the University I am attached to, circulated an email to the faculty academics asking them to submit details of their research and publications for 2017-2021. The email mentioned that these details were required by the National Audit Office of Sri Lanka.
This article is a continuation of views and opinions expressed in this forum on the quality assurance process in Sri Lankan university education. In this article, reflecting on my academic training and personal experiences, I mainly question the interpretation of “outcome-based education” (OBE) and the emphasis given to it in the Manuals prepared for Institutional Review and Undergraduate Study Programme Review of Sri Lankan Universities and Higher Education Institutions published by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 2015 as part of a World Bank-funded project, currently under implementation.
