Kuppi Talk

“ The locals were not interested in working in the plantations sector, so people were brought from India to work here.” 
As a 16-year-old sitting for my GCE OL examination, I never realised the gravity of these words. Presented to us as an afterthought when discussing the history of our country, I could not see how an entire community and their story of struggle were erased. Nor could I understand the importance of this brief statement against the backdrop of endless historical political reforms. Our texts drew attention to the needs of ‘locals’ and how labour could be easily acquired from elsewhere to suit the whims of our former British colonial masters, dead set on introducing coffee plantations. However, delving into the process of acquiring this labour, the conditions of existence leading to their taking up this arduous task, or this crude objectification of an individual, where they were “brought” to another country, without their consent, was missing in our grand narrative of Sri Lankan history and insignificant, as our sole purpose was passing our examination. Our conformity in unconsciously othering a group of people from the outset of their entry to this country as second-class citizens did not register in our 16-year-old heads.

“Private tuition centres, private schools, and institutions offering degree programmes for a fee all play a significant role in deepening the disparities between different social classes.” Education should be genuinely ‘free’—not just in the sense of being free from privatisation, but also in a way that empowers students by freeing them from oppressive structures. It should provide them with the knowledge and tools necessary to think critically, question the status quo, and ultimately liberate themselves from oppressive systems.

Our universities are characterized by hierarchies. They manifest in formal and informal ways, reinforcing power asymmetries based on class, ethnicity and gender, and placing inordinate authority in those with higher status. In medicine, a ‘hidden curriculum’ orients undergraduates to hierarchies from their early days in training, placing professors over lecturers, ‘clinical’ over ‘non-clinical’ teachers, consultants over medical officers, and so on. While hierarchies are needed at universities (and hospitals) to streamline decision-making, dysfunctional hierarchies create unhealthy learning environments and a culture of fear that discourages students from asking questions and voicing concerns. They also legitimize mistreatment, humiliation, bullying, and other abuses of power. A few months ago, when I invited a medical student to participate in a session on ragging and harassment for incoming students, she asked me (quoted with permission), “What’s the point of doing a programme like that if ragging happens in official level by teachers with everyone knowing, Madam?” Her question led me to explore the avenues available at state universities for undergraduates to counter abuses of power by teachers and university administrations.

In a recent Kuppi article by Nicola Perera, “Dealing with Sexual- and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Universities” (18/02/2025), the author discusses the gap between institutional structures and the reality of preventing violence against women and marginalised communities, including the LGBTQ+ community, in Sri Lanka’s higher education sector.

Despite policy interventions at the University Grants Commission (UGC), university, and faculty levels, sexual- and gender-based violence (SGBV) is so entrenched in the system that victim-survivors seeking justice are more likely to experience concerted pushback than the empathetic solidarity of their peers. Colleagues and friends will often close ranks, rallying to protect the accused under misguided notions of safeguarding the reputation of, not merely the assumed perpetrator, but the institution. While gender and sexual inequalities, inflected by class, ethnicity, religion, region, and other characteristics, shape the identities of the perpetrator and victim and the situation of abuse, the hyper-hierarchised nature of the university space itself enables and conceals such violence. It’s also important to note that women are not the exclusive victims of violence; boys and men are caught in violent dynamics, too.

Long before MIT and Jeff Bezos (the latter reluctantly referred to here) had supposedly banned PowerPoint in the classroom or at meetings, I had banned its use in my classes. I wished to live and create a moment of life, and not entice death, death by PowerPoint; a macabre slide-show of misadventure. Its hero, protagonist, or villain, deadly boredom. It is about aliens, made up of quantum particles of ominous signs, bullets and slides, circles and squares, colours that light up on command. It has taken over your mind, got under your skin, and holds you not in a choke hold (too much excitement for PowerPoint), but brings about a paralysis of the body; sleep overtakes one, one slips into another world, while the presentation washes over you.

Reforming Sri Lanka’s education system in ways that cater to global needs appears to be a central focus of the new government. This pronouncement first appeared in the NPP’s election manifesto with reference to vocational education. Later, in October 2024, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake stated that our education system should be rebuilt in alignment with global demands. Prime Minister and Minister of Education Harini Amarasuriya mentioned in a speech in December 2024 that building a skilled workforce capable of meeting the needs of both local and global labour markets is a key objective of the government’s development vision.

In February 2023, I wrote a piece for Kuppi entitled, The future is female? There I discussed how while most of our undergraduate students were female, the University system was not doing enough to equip them to address the violence and misogyny in our society. In that article, I also illustrated the nature of violence and misogyny that students and young women in general face in our country.

Sri Lankans love their educational qualifications. Qualifications permit envious comparisons of value, similar to the ownership of gold jewellery, an expensive watch or a branded pair of shoes, resulting in exactly the same questions of provenance, worth and authenticity, but from a much higher moral ground.

Recent events surrounding the ABBA tribute concert held in Colombo brought to light certain long-standing questions particularly to do with the arts and the idea of leisure. While I will not pretend that I can capture the spectrum of responses that were offered on the fact that some NPP politicians had attended the concert, I am intrigued by what I thought was a dominant critique. The politicians were viewed as being hypocrites because they came in on a promise of focusing on the most immediate needs of the people and were then seen at a concert, something non-essential to the jobs they were elected to do.