Ceylon Today Editorial

Fraudulent school admissions

30 January 2017

The first time the Government has nabbed prestigious schools in the act as it were while fraudulently admitting children to Year One, including Royal College Colombo.

According to Ministry of Education sources on the directive of Minister of Education, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, investigations have even been launched over complaints against fifteen National schools including Colombo's Royal College with regard to admission of students to Year One at the beginning of this year.

Following the directive of the Minister of Education, it has been found that students have been admitted to several National schools through fraudulent means. Education Department officials probing complaints had taken to task principals of some high profile National schools.

Educational institutions in the country have played a great role in moulding exemplary citizens in the country, in the past.

The free education system in the country has given citizens of all walks of life to enhance their knowledge with even free text books and uniforms being given without restriction.

Sri Lanka has been rated as a highly literate country in South Asia and Lankans have proved themselves exceptional in various fields internationally.

However, the trend in school admissions remains shocking with fraudulent activities such as bribes and political interference taking centre stage, ridiculing the country's educational system.

Sri Lanka has a long tradition of having an exceptional educational system with the schools established throughout the country in the past two hundred years.

Several schools have even reached the bicentennial year proving themselves in creating civilized citizens in the Island.

Principals and teachers of a bygone era sacrificed themselves in bringing out the best from their students.

Several of the prime sectors in the country have been politicized and marred by nepotism. But the educational system in the country remained unpolluted with merit taking due place.

The recent developments in the field of education are disheartening with the reputation of several National schools being tarnished over allegations against them regarding admissions of students and the administration.

Already the free education system has been ridiculed by private tuition centres mushrooming in every nook and corner in the country. Private educational institutions are emerging at an alarming rate with students agitating against setting up of private medical schools.

The complaints which have come up with the beginning of the New Year over admissions to Year One are agonizing in terms of the future of the country's educational system.

School heads and officials dealing with admissions of students to Year One have been accused of malpractice, and action has already been taken against some officials in the backdrop of the Minister of Education making the directive to investigate into the issue.

Despite free education in the country, a large number of students in their tender age remain with no access to good schools or to a proper environment for education.

Therefore, in this backdrop the fraudulent elements taking the upper hand in the education sector will lead to a state of grooming an uncivilized generation in the country.

Unlike in the past, the appetite for education is enormous among present generation of students. Unscrupulous elements cannot be tolerated and stringent measures should be put in place to eliminate the 'black sheep' in the education sector.

Investigations against malpractices over school admissions should be intensified and expedited without giving room for any political manipulations.

Proper legal measures should be taken against those found guilty of playing with the lives of innocent students who take their first step to education.

Daily News Editorial

MR's “rest” from politics

30 January 2017

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa made an interesting comment on Friday at Nugegoda. Addressing the “pohottuwa” party's maiden rally as the chief speaker Rajapaksa said, but for President Sirisena he would be today earning for himself a well deserved rest from politics. It was the President who pushed him into the political arena once again by his own doings and that of the government under him. “I never wanted to come back to politics. All I wanted was some rest and peace after the presidential election. But the actions of this government are dragging the country towards disaster. They are trying to divide the country. I could not sit and watch that happening.”

It was the former President's firm assertion that he reentered the political arena after January 8 due to the government's attempt to divide the country through a new constitution. This claim is funny if not bizarre. It is difficult to fathom how Rajapaksa divined that a new constitution would be promulgated by the government a full two years in advance on January 8. Equally difficult to gauge is how the former president knew the exact contents of the constitution two years ahead to know well in advance that the country is going to be divided by the proposed constitution. There was no mention of a new constitution during the presidential election campaign of the Common Candidate or about the shape it is going to take. Besides, the creation of the new constitution is a collective effort where the MPs of the Joint Opposition too are partners, being members of the various committees appointed to draft the document.

Be that as it may, Rajapaksa's claim that President Sirisena forced his reentry into politics due to the latter's actions, if not for which he would today be earning a well deserved rest, needs to be examined closely. There was heightened speculation that Rajapaksa, on election night, when results were trickling in showing imminent defeat for the former president, was planning a coup of sorts to remain in power despite the verdict of the people. Giving credence to these rumours were the presence of the Army Commander, Chief Justice the IGP, a Senior DIG, very close to Rajapaksa, and a host of close confidants at Temple Trees in the company of the Rajapaksas. This was the scene when Ranil Wickremesinghe arrived at Temple Trees on election night. Later it transpired that military tanks were stationed at specific locations in the city and that the Election Commissioner's office was to be surrounded to force the cancellation of the results.

This certainly cannot be the conduct of an individual who planned to retire and earn a well deserved rest from politics after the presidential election. On the contrary it a devious machination to remain entrenched in politics, going against the verdict of the people. The thought of a new constitution, or what it would do to the country, would have been furthest from the mind of the former president whose sole aim was to remain in power through foul means.

It was clearly plain to anyone that Rajapaksa, no sooner was he ousted from power, was set on a comeback journey to reclaim, if not his lost crown, at least a position of power from where he could wield authority. He lost no time in trying to mobilize the masses. The former President started doing the temple circuit where supporters greeted him with enthusiasm. He also frequently met the Mahnayakas to obtain their blessings with media in tow to get the maxim mileage out of these occasions. Well attended political rallies were held in major cities, titled Mahinda samaga negitimu (let us rise with Mahinda) or Mahinda sulanga (the Mahinda wind) - a far cry from the actions of a man who now claims he had no intentions to reenter politics after the presidential election.

The icing on the cake was when the former president presented himself as a candidate at the general election, a full eight months after the presidential election, portraying himself as the Prime Ministerial candidate, at a time when no mention of a new constitution had been made nor even an inkling given as to its contents. How can Rajapaksa now claim that he decided to quit politics after January 8 but that the President's action to divide the country through the new constitution, forced his hand to reconsider his decision?

Assuming that Rajapaksa's decision was guided by altruistic motives what power or authority could he wield to change the status quo? His Presidential hopes are over and the premiership is a dashed long shot. Rajapaksa can only aspire to be Prime Minister by contesting a general election and winning from a third party, since it is difficult to fathom President Sirisena offering him nominations from the SLFP, let alone making him the Prime Ministerial nominee. Hence MR would do himself a world of good, if he, at least now, seriously consider taking that long overdue rest which he had deprived himself in order put things right in this paradise isle which the Yahapalaya government had fouled up.

The Island Editorial

Contradictions galore!

30 January 2017

 

The government tries to promote itself as a good governance coalition. But, it is, in fact, a coalition of contradictions in that its constituents and leaders keep contradicting one another ad nauseam. What we hear from its top guns on crucial national issues has all the trappings of a babble of voices in a toddy bar; nay, it is more incomprehensible than shebeen gabble.

Cabinet Spokesman Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, last Wednesday, tried to defend Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who attended a recent ceremony where a factory was launched by a frontman of the Rajapaksa family, had come to know about the background of that investor only a few hours before the event. But, Minister Malik Samarawickrama contradicted Senaratne immediately afterwards; he said both the PM and President Maithripala Srisena had been quite au fait with the background of the entrepreneur concerned. Now, it is clear that the government is honeymooning with the persons it once condemned as crooked cronies of the former ruling clan!

In the run-up to the last presidential election the UNP and the Maithripala faction of the SLFP promised to abolish the executive presidency, which, they insisted, was the mother of all evils in Sri Lankan politics. President Sirisena declared, upon being inaugurated, that he would never seek a second term. But, now the SLFP has suddenly woken up to the need for retaining the executive presidency and is preparing the ground for fielding President Sirisena as the SLFP’s next presidential candidate much to the consternation of the UNP.

The UNP insists that former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran has not been on the wrong side of the law as regards the bond scams which have caused the state coffers and the Employee’s Provident Fund to haemorrhage colossal amounts of money. But, President Sirisena has faulted Mahendran, denied him a second term as the Central Bank Governor and ordered a presidential probe into the bond scams.

Government pundits have maintained during the last two years that LTTE threat is a thing of the past. Anyone who warns of a possible LTTE comeback is promptly branded a racist. LTTE cadres are being released and high security zones dismantled at a rate. When a former Tiger was arrested in March last year with a suicide jacket, claymore mines and ammunition, some government ministers claimed there was no threat to national security and the media were blowing the issue out of proportion. But, The Hindu newspaper has recently reported that the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government has warned TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran of a serious threat to his life. The MP is quoted as saying that the government has shared some specific information about the threat and four persons have been arrested in that connection. So much for the government’s claim that the LTTE threat has long ceased to exist!

President Sirisena keeps saying there has been no agreement to hand over land in Hambantota to foreigners. But, UNP members of his Cabinet say 15,000 acres in areas adjacent to the Hambantota Port will be leased out to some Chinese investors for 99 years. Who is telling us the truth?

President Sirisena has gone on record as saying that his predecessor opted for a snap presidential election because the latter had been at its wits’ end, unable to figure out how to face an impending economic crisis. He has given the impression that Mahinda Rajapaksa ran away, not knowing how to steer the ship of the state to safety. But, the incumbent government claims Rajapaksa was planning a coup to stay in power despite his defeat at the Jan. 2015 presidential election! If he had sought to run away from trouble on the economic front, he could have refrained from seeking a third term or he would not have tried to retain power forcibly!

The UNP pretends to be on a mission to restore the supremacy of Parliament. But, last week, its heavyweights argued in the House in favour of a judicial intervention as regards the COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) report on the bond scams. They took on JVP MP Bimal Ratnayake, who pointed out the absurdity of MPs being summoned by a court for carrying out their duties and functions as members of a parliamentary watchdog committee. The Constitution does not provide for post enactment judicial review. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe tore into the judiciary some moons ago for allegedly trying to usurp the powers of the legislature anent the Singarasa case. The UNP has also taken pride in the late Speaker Anura Bandaranaike’s historic ruling (2001), which rejected a Supreme Court interim order seeking to prevent him from dealing with a parliamentary resolution to probe the then Chief Justice until the apex court had heard and determined a fundamental rights application before it. As they say in this country a water monitor becomes a land monitor when one feels like eating it.

It is not only the members of the yahapalana coalition who keep contradicting themselves; their foreign allies also do. The present dispensation has received plaudits from the US and the EU for ‘meaningful steps’ it is said to have taken to battle corruption. But, Sri Lanka has, under the yahapalana watch, slipped 12 points on the 2016 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released by the Transparency International, which ranks countries according to the perceived level of public sector corruption. Sri Lanka was ranked 85th on the CPI in 2014 under the previous government. How would the defenders of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration explain this mismatch between its claim to have contained corruption and the CPI rankings?