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It is almost fifty years after the schools takeover circular of 1961. Schools for the poor were always fully state-assisted. Elite schools then were administered by independent boards and funded through a combination of private benevolence and state assistance. Elite schools were elite because children of the elite attended those giving the schools many additional benefits. Ironically, almost fifty years after the free education initiative, things have not changed much.
Once the renowned economist Milton Friedman said, “Let parents choose to educate their children wherever they wish at the taxpayer’s expense. The principle of this idea is simple and it said, “the state pays; parents choose; schools compete standards rise; everybody gains.” This shows that even the fathers of neo-liberal economic policies advocated free education but not what we have understood and are ready to protect sacrificing even lives. Sri Lanka had many achievements to be proud of and one of them is the high standard of education. According to statistics the higher literacy rate around 90%, is the highest in the region.
The young men and women you see here all are undergraduates, but please do not be misled that they have made their annual batch trip venue Isurupaya this time.  According to today’s Lankadeepa, which published this photo these people who underwent the Tharuna Aruna programme demands jobs from the education authorities.  Wonder who gave them the funny idea that the role of the education ministry to provide jobs for otherwise unemployable graduates.    

Assist special schools

Posted on July 4, 2007  /  0 Comments

As one who was closely associated with Education in the Assisted Special schools for over three decades and now retired, it gave me great joy to read in the Daily News of June 8 that the Government by a Cabinet decision has granted its approval to a memorandum submitted by the Minister of Education for the revision of the code of regulation of assisted special schools. The code of regulations for assisted special schools which has been first introduced in the 1930s is antiquated and outdated and needed revision for a long time. In view of this situation, the two principals of Ratmalana schools for the Deaf and Blind C.H. Gunawardana and K.
(02nd July 2007 – 00:05 S.L.T)  The government has no capacity to continue with Mahapola scheme says Minister Bandula Gunawardene, Minister of Trade, Marketing Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs. He said this at a ceremony held to donate Mahapola Scholarships to 642 students who have qualified to enter universities from Galle District. Addressing the gathering the minister said though there are cries to increase Mahapola grant it would not be possible to do so.
COLOMBO:Indian High Commissioner Alok Prasad inaugurated the first of the 20 Nanasala that the Indian Government is financing at a cost of SL Rs. 13 million. Irrigation, Water Management, Ports and Aviation Minister Chamal Rajapaksa was the Chief Guest. President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, also participated in the inauguration. The 20 Nanasalas have been carefully selected so that most of the districts in the Island will benefit from the project.
Is this saving ‘free education’ or using a section of university students to run errands for JVP?  Please note the timing. This is the first demonstration by IUSF for three years? Where was this IUSF for the last three years? Didn’t this threat to free education exist in the period between 2004-7?
Note: We reproduce this item verbatim from Daily News because we see the news value of it from a different perspective. We all know that OBAs and OGAs now exist purely with one objective – getting ones’ offspring admitted to a popular school. They are exclusive elite clubs with membership strictly controlled. It is well known that most of the OBAs and OGAs operate like small mafias. In this environment, it is not a surprise the OBA of Ananda College trying to reinforce its political power by inviting powerful political personalities to its ilk.
Looks like JVP has come out of its prolonged hibernation. New posters are plastered all over the city, ostensibly by so called ‘Inter University Student Federation’ but don’t we know better?   ‘Rata pura upadhi kada vasa damanu!’ they say. No kidding.
Microsoft plans to start testing a new education PC called IQ PC and an education channel on its MSN portal in India next month.  The India launch of the IQ PC and education channel will be the first worldwide. It is part of Microsoft’s “Unlimited Potential” program, which aims to use technology to increase the reach of education, said a spokeswoman for Microsoft India on Wednesday.  Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced the Unlimited Potential program in April.  The new education PC, which is a combination of online and offline content, is likely to be priced at about Indian Rupees 21,000 ($513).