How many millions of students may have wasted their talents and skills in our countries due to lack of qualified/professional teachers and Lecturers in our educational Institutes? In western countries teaching and lecturing services are vigorously monitored and assessed by professional inspectors/ Respective Heads of departments. We in third world countries do not have this system of monitoring and assessments. We do not have a proper system to check the progress of our educational institutions.
by Dr Rifai Naleemi
(November 10, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) As we already noted in our previous sections the introduction of private universities will bring many benefits to Srilanka and it will help to reform and update our university education as whole. While we welcome the efforts to introduce private universities in Srilanka a lot need to be done to upgrade public universities in Srilanka. Problems and challenges face by some of our public universities are enormous and UGC with support of higher education ministry need to do a lot in this respect. Qualified academic staff shortage, lack of facilities for students, lack of training programmes for academic staffs, problems of salaries increment, problems of students’ clash with VCs and politicians are some of these challenges. Will introduction of private universities ease some of these problems or deteriorate further more? In Srilankan context, it could go either way unless the government hold its grip on students’ behaviours and disciplines. It can be convincingly say that private universities would not have at least some of these problems as students pay form their own money they would not like to see any interruption in their course of studies. It is in their interest not to interrupt their studies and they take some responsibilities to complete their courses of study on time. Students in public universities do not have this sense of responsibility as they receive education free of charge they do not value their education. In western countries all governmental departments have excellent leadership and they have excellent system of management and mechanisms to monitor and assess progress and short falls of administration and unfortunately we do not have such sophisticated monitoring mechanism in our countries.
We can not dream to have one hundred percent perfect universities in Srilanka free of all mistakes we are all human beings we may make mistakes by our own nature yet what I strongly condemn is all types of discriminations that have been done deliberately and intentionally to penalise some students and some staffs. This is not a good practice for the future of our country and as result of this discriminative attitudes many highly qualified people will be left out and less quailed people will get into the ladder of promotions and some of them would not have efficiency to perform in their professions. It has been reported about some irregularities in the interview process for the post of lectureship in some departments. Sometimes candidates with upper classes were left out in favours of candidates with lower classes for some crafty reasons. Sometimes candidates from some regions have been favoured over candidates from different regions. Moreover, the interview processes for the post of lecturers in universities are outdated processes and there is no vigorous process to identify and scrutinise the candidates’ academics and interpersonal skills for the post of lectureship. As a result of this discriminative and prejudicial attitude Srilankan universities have lost many talented academics. I still remember that one candidate (with second class upper) in economics who went for an interview at one of our reputed universities was turned down because of dress code and lesser qualified person (with second class lower) was selected. This is indeed, utter waste of human resource and utter waste of national talents: It is high time that UGC should introduce some procedures for the selection of lecturers beyond mere paper qualifications. It is interesting to note that UGC has very recently has amended slightly the interview procedure for the post lecturers (in probationary). It is now requesting all candidates to make a presentation on a specific subject to determine their teaching skills and it should also assess their academic writing and professional skills as well. There are some people so good in presentation skills but they would not have good writing and academic skills to contribute to academic life fully. UGC should also have some mechanisms to monitor and assess the quality of university teaching in all universities in Srilanka. Unlike many other professions teaching is a demanding profession. Whether it is in schools or universities. One should have not only thorough knowledge in subject matters but also need communication skills, interpersonal skills, and academic skills to deliver excellent teaching lessons. Moreover, they should creative thinking to stimulate research and academic stills in students’ minds. Otherwise, so called teachers/lecturers could spoil life of our future generations. That is why educational establishments in western countries have very strict rules and vigorous training programmes for teachers and lecturers.
It is a well established concept in western nations that each child is born with enormous talents and skills and it is in the hands of teachers/mentors to bring out these skills and talents of these children. It is professional duties of teachers/mentors/Lectures to indentify those inherent skills and talents of students. This should be done through monitoring and observation in their teaching. Interestingly, if a child fails in an examination in western countries it is regarded not a fault of that child but rather it is his teacher’s faults that he/she could not bring out naturally inherited and inborn skills of this child: This particular teacher could not teach that child in a way that is appropriate. However, if a child fails in our countries it is not a fault of his teacher rather it is the fault of that child. Teachers often could describe that child as an unintelligent boy rather than accepting their failure to train him and bring his talent out. What a contrasting attitude in teaching profession? Any child or any student for that matter is like a seed. A farmer who expects a good harvest will take all necessary steps to lay his seeds in a right place. He will water his seeds on time. He will put fertilisers on time with due measurements. He will monitor and observe different stages of growing seeds until the times come for harvests. Similarly students either in schools or universities need to be trained, guided, monitored and assessed. Otherwise, like a bad farmer who spoils his cultivation a bad teacher might spoil student’s life.
How many millions of students may have wasted their talents and skills in our countries due to lack of qualified/professional teachers and Lecturers in our educational Institutes? In western countries teaching and lecturing services are vigorously monitored and assessed by professional inspectors/ Respective Heads of departments. We in third world countries do not have this system of monitoring and assessments. We do not have a proper system to check the progress of our educational institutions. It is very pathetic to note that there are some departments in Srilankan universities that have made meagre contributions to academic life of universities: Some of them these departments were established in 1950’s yet they have not produced a single PhD degree or publish a single academic journal or at least some academic books with international reputation. Why is this pathetic academic situation at some of Srilankan university departments? I think it is because of the fact that we do not have a system to monitor academic progress of these departments in our University Education system.
There is a talk of quality assurance and quality control in theory at least but in practice there is nothing. What is the mechanism of quality assurance? Will our university staffs allow any one to monitor their teaching? Do we have any other mechanism to observe and monitor such systems of recoding progress of each academic terms or academic years? In Western universities students have the right to send evaluation reports and appraisals about their teaching? Can Srilankan universities introduce such methods of evaluation methods? Will students have right to report about their lecturers’ teaching performance? In western countries students pay fees for their education in universities as a result of that they expect a higher quality of teaching delivery similar to that of paying for goods: You pay a good price for a good product similarly they pay good fees their courses and in return they expect high quality teaching. One of the problems in Srilanka is that Srilankan Government does not pay good salaries for academic staffs in public universities and it is reported that our salary scale is one the lowest in the world less than what academics get in Bangladesh. Good salaries and good facilities will certainly motivated good academics to perform well in their teaching and researching. This has been one main concern of Academic staffs in Srilanka universities. What Srilankan government should do is pay good salaries and expects quality of teaching and good quality of researches in all subjects. This should be done in a greater interest of our students’ communities and in greater interest of our country in general. In western countries, universities have the rights to sack its employees on the legal grounds and more importantly if they do not perform well and deliver good quality teaching. We do not have such systems in place in our countries. It would be better in the interest of our country to get away with handful of bad teachers rather than spoiling future generations of students communities. Whether it is in universities or schools, there must be some sort of vigorous monitoring system on teaching staffs to maintain the quality control otherwise, talents and skills of thousands of students will be wasted.
In this respect I would welcome higher education ministry’s all efforts to review syllabus and curriculums of Srilankan schools, colleges and universities; Sinhala language only policy would have been appropriate in 1950’s but now world has dramatically shifted and changed. It is indeed a wise move to introduce English language instruction in universities.. Introducing English medium at universities is timely needed policy at this age of globalization and information revolution. Yet, I strongly believe that this should be done in a gradual process and it should not be done overnight within one or two years as ministry of higher Education proposes. Most of our university students come from rural areas and they have been studying either in Sinhala or Tamil medium if we ask them abruptly to do their university courses in English it would be fair on them and it would be viable at all: if the ministry of higher education wants to do this amendment it has to introduce this steps by steps. It should give four/five years time so that students who are preparing for GCSE O/Ls and A/Ls can be gradually taken into English medium education in universities. I have a personal experience to share with you about this issue. When I was appointed at Eastern University as Assistant Lecturer in Islamic studies in 1988 our VC was adamant to introduce all teaching instruction in English Medium and students who came from all rural areas in Eastern Province struggled to cope with English Language .Consequently, students went for many strikes finally Tamil medium was replaced. Moreover, some staffs particularly in departments of humanities will find it difficult to teach in English. With a lot of Academic jargons and terminologies it will be difficult for lecturers who are trained in Singhalese and Tamils to switch into English medium abruptly and swiftly as the higher Education ministry wants: This proposal to change into English medium has to be done in a gradual process at least with five to seven years duration. This will give them time to train staff and students in English Language skills. Rushing through the medium of English instruction may create many practical problems in teaching and learning process. There is no doubt this is a very good idea and timely needed but you should have a gradual process to implement this policy.
What more is that there is a huge political influence in Srilankan University Education. Recent unnecessary strikes and turmoil in Srilankan universities are as a result of excessive political influence. It is true that Higher Education ministry has administrative authority over universities in Srilanka: it is higher educations ministry that has legal authority and mandate to supervise, administrate, and run national universities without any disruptions. It is with supports of academic and Non-Academic staffs that they could do this smoothly and efficiently. Universities establishments should have their own mechanisms and procedures to cope with students’ problems rather than taking up these internal s problems with politicians. Politicians very often make matters worse with different political agendas. It can be noted that political influence has dramatically increased in Sirlankan universities for many years. Politics and University system is closely connected and vice-chancellors are appointed by the President’s own will. It is regrettable to note that some senior academics are grossly neglected by politicians in their nominations for vice-chancellorship merely for political reasons. Whichever party comes to power they do the same thing to maintain their political hegemony in universities: It could become worst now with 18th amendment to our constitution. Less political interference would be better for higher education in Sirlanka and it is duties and responsibilities of politicians to provide facilities and facilitate conducive learning environments in universities rather involving too much in internal affairs of university administration. By nature students all over the world would like political involvement in universities and policing university promises would not help at all in long run.
What are some of Disadvantage of establishing private universities in Srilanka? First of all Srilankan is one of third world countries and most of its students come from rural background and from poor families. Since independence Srilanka has been providing free education at least without charging tuitions fees for university education. This has helped thousands of undergraduates in Srilanka. Without such assistance and help higher education of thousands of students would not have been possible in Srilanka. Introduction of private university in Srilanka may pay the way to introduce admission fees into public universities. Universities may become profits making institutions in a long run. With soaring of the price for commodities very day it would be impossible for poor families to send their children to universities with tuition fees. Unlike in western countries in Srilanka we do not have financial helps or loans from higher education ministry. In western countries students could at least borrow monies from banks or could apply students’ grants/loan and for bursaries. Srilankan Universities do provide a small amount of bursaries for undergraduates yet these bursaries not enough even to meets students’ day to day expenses. This indeed is a genuine concern of some people in this country. These people argue that by introduction of private universities in Srilanka our traditional national universities may run into ghost towns as it is the case with cooperative shops in Srilanka. National Universities may be neglected in long run and free education will be ceased gradually in Srilanka. Socialistic and Marxists minded people advocate such arguments. One would agree that these are really genuine concerns of many people because in Srilanka many people are struggling to find end meets and how could they pay fees for higher education? However, I think that we should not too much bother about these concerns because introduction of private universities does not mean that it is an end for free education for good: We can not buy these arguments: Bangladesh introduced private universities in 1990’s and they are doing well both in private and public universities and they have expanded both sectors of universities and still there is a good demand for public universities in Bangladesh. Moreover, students with good results still will prefer to go to public universities as they are fees free. It is all about how governments govern these universities with the rules of law in professional ways.
Moreover, with introduction of private universities Srilanka may experience some western cultural influence in students’ university life. When international students come from all other world especially from western nations they will bring with them their way of life, culture, traditions and habits which may not go hand in hand with Eastern culture. Religious Leaderships of this country may at one stage object western cultural influence. Moreover, Higher Education ministry should introduce some strict rules and regulations to regulate private universities in Srilanka otherwise, these private Universities will become profit making institutions with government approval. Moreover, these institutions could become at some stage degree certificates printing factories unless the government has strict rules to monitor examination establishments and procedures. Overall, advantages of introducing private institutions and universities in Srilanka are more than disadvantages.
It is true that western countries hugely invest in education yet they too struggle to fund fully higher education programmes. Some universities in Western countries depend on foreign students’ fees to cover shortfalls in its finance. More recently UK government relaxed its strict rules on students’ visas because it no longer fully meets huge expenditures in Higher Education and consequently it relaxed it students visa rules However, this venture of private university establishment in Srilanka is an experimental venture. It is predicted that this venture will be a successful project as there is a good demand for higher Education in Srilanka. It could be sometime utter failure as well. There are many disputable questions on this issue. There are still many uncertainties surrounding these proposed private universities. In western world Education is very much commercialized now than ever before. Universities in the west charge huge tuition fees for local and international students. Can Srilankan students afford to pay a large of amount of tuition fees? Where do these private Universities going to get students from? Will these private universities attract international students from different countries? Will students from South Asian countries attend private universities in Srilanka? These proposed universities will be profit making institutions and if they do not make profit then what will happen? Will local students have concession rate for their tuition fees? What Higher Education ministry should have done is that it should have consulted Srilankan Academics within Srilanka and Abroad on this issue and event organise a series conference and seminars on Education reforms and strategies.
As Siri Gamage proposes we need an independent commission to study and examine the entire system of Education in Srilanka. More importantly, Srilankan policy makers on education should learn and share the experience of private universities in countries such as Bangladesh so that we could have an excellent system of education in Srilanka to meets needs and demands of our time. May be our policy makers, officials in higher education ministry need some international exposure and educational excursions to learn more about higher education systems in the rest of world. There a lot highly qualified Srilankan academics, professionals and educationalist in abroad and it is high time that Srilankan higher education ministry consult these people and get more solid ideas from these srilankan talents: Naturally, out of their own patriotism and love for their mother land they will contribute to our education with their experience and knowledge: It is high time that the higher education ministry have such innovative ideas to share experience of srilankan expatriates. They should collect a data base of the academic people who could contribute to our university academic life with some international exposure and experience that will help our university system greatly.
Though we dream to upgrade our universities to the standard of western universities, it would be improper to compare Srilankan Universities’ standard with Western universities. Because of many reasons, they have a long history of university education system, Cambridge, Oxford and other European universities have long history of educational heritage and legacy, with industrial and information revaluations these universities become centres of learning, research and innovation. We do not have parallel institutes in our third world countries. Moreover, they invest huge amount of money in higher education, more importantly in research, training and teaching and learning resources: They have many funding schemes, grants, and scholarship programmes. Nowhere have we had such funding and facilities in our countries to do such research activities. Moreover, they have all facilities in universities to carry out research activities. For instance, good Libraries, laboratories and resource materials and excellent teaching staff with expertises in all fields are some of these but we do not have such facilities. More importantly, Universities in these countries apply new and innovative teaching and learning pedagogies. They apply creative and innovative approaches even in arts and humanity subjects we at least some of our departments are still dictating and reading our old note books and have no idea how to impart our knowledge and stimulate research and creative thinking in our students. To be honest most of our students in art and humanity subjects are clear enough to copy cut and duplicate their works and even our staff do not have time and skills to identify this academic plagiarism. One of the best attitudes of students in the western countries is that they feel shame to copy others works and each and every student does their assignments on their own way: Do our students have such good qualities? Then how could we expect creativity and innovative research? As Jayaratne Pinikahana noted radical changes are needed in revision of university syllabi, research funding, publication, link programmes with international universities and companies and sharing of experience and expertise of our Srilankan academics in Abroad. These are great ideas and proposals but will our higher education ministry take steps to comprehensively implement at these some of these ideas and proposals? Or can policy makers and officials in our higher education ministry envisage and visualize these changes and take necessary measures to implement these amendments? In addition to these proposal I would like add some more a) More importantly we need a radical change in our pedagogies of teaching and learning, b) vigorous systems of monitoring and assessing teaching and learning process in our universities; progress of teaching and learning has be monitored and assessed frequently, c) Necessary teaching resources and facilities have to be updated urgently d) Careers guidance and internships are needed for our graduates e) Academic debates, seminars, conferences have to be initiated more frequently f) More importantly, sharing experience and knowledge of our senor academic with local and international universities is much needed.
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