Rajiva Wijesinha

“ In that respect the area we should concentrate on most, and which is the subject of your workshop here, is education. That is the tool that states and individuals have, to relieve to at least some extent the inherent unfairness of the world in which we live. And in Sri Lanka certainly it is unfairness springing from deprivations suffered because of our education system that have perhaps created the greatest bitterness. ”

“ Incidentally, emphasis on soft skills was a focus of a recent project grandiloquently titled ‘Improving the Relevance and Quality of University Education’, but this was not particularly successful, except in those universities which had already been addressing related problems. In many universities academics without soft skills themselves were unable or perhaps even unwilling to introduce changes that would make their students more employable than themselves. ”

“ When the government introduced a policy of standardization with regard to university entrance in the early seventies, it was intended to benefit those in areas where education was inferior, ie it was a system rather like your reservation system, designed to increase the chances of the worse off. In fact students from rural Tamil areas benefited from this, as did students from rural Sinhala areas. But, with the two areas worst hit being Colombo and Jaffna, whereas youngsters from Colombo had recourse to private sector jobs, those from Jaffna had no such outlet for their talents. ”

“ When I talk therefore of children affected by conflict, I am not talking only of those adversely affected by restrictions caused by LTTE control of certain parts of our country until very recently, I am talking of deprivations imposed by attitudinal oppositions which allowed for neglect of the basic interests of the young. ”

“ But it does suggest that, whereas equality is not something that we can achieve or which we can pursue with either justice or success, we should never cease from pursuing equality of opportunity. In that sense the past couple of years has been a healthy corrective to cynicism, and a signal that at least some element of our youthful ideals should never leave us. ”

“ Twenty years after that however it seems that the prescription of growth alone will not work, that not only is the trickle down effect a chimaera, but also that the hidden hand does not always operate. ”

“ We can already see some innovative thinking, for instance in the plans for streamlined catch up education formulated now by the Ministry of Education, in the technical and vocational education that is steaming ahead in the North, in the enthusiasm of teachers and students for English and IT through formal as well as non-formal education. ”

“ So we had youngsters growing up without being able to communicate with one another, developing deep resentments. And, just to compound the problem, instead of fitting children into just two compartments, based only on language, we devised three, sending children either to Sinhala medium schools, or to what were termed Tamil Tamil medium schools, or to Muslim schools which were also in the Tamil medium. ”

“ These skills will certainly form an essential component of training for youngsters affected by conflict, especially those who had been forced into fighting for the LTTE. We must make sure that a choice of lucrative employment is available to them if they are not to be tempted back into terrorism through resentment at what they see as inequality of opportunity. ”

“ Such niggardliness continues in the resentment over degree level courses for paramedics for instance, which means that a field in which lucrative employment would be available internationally is closed to our youngsters, who will therefore find it difficult to compete against their peers from other countries. ”

“ We need to build on this coherently, and ensure that, while infrastructural development goes on apace to make up to these our fellow citizens for years of neglect, we also promote the development of human resources that are also essential to ensure a prosperous future. ”

“ Greater attention has also been paid to vocational training, with measures to enable incremental qualifications leading to degrees and diplomas as well as basic certification. One aim of this programme was to promote soft skills too, IT and English for instance, which would enhance employability, in particular for migrant workers. ”