Catholic Church protest : Distortion of whose history? - by Janaka Perera (29.07.2010 - Asian Tribune)
The
media reported recently that Sri Lanka’s Roman Catholic clergy is
reacting in spontaneous protest against the Education Department’s
history text books. It is however not clear which sections and
paragraphs in these books the clergy is referring to.
If the books criticize the Catholic religion itself and carry derogatory
remarks about Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary and the Bible there is no
question that the books should be withdrawn since such criticism would
be offensive to Catholics and Christians. But if the Catholic Church is
objecting to references on the use of religion by European Colonialists
as a Trojan horse to consolidate their power in the conquered
territories that is an entirely different issue. It cannot and should
not be swept under the carpet in the name of ‘religious harmony’ however
unpalatable it may be to some. ...............................>>
Royal
College 175 th Anniversary : A forgotten incident - by Janaka Perera (29.06.2010 -
Asiantribune.com)
As Sri Lanka’s Royal College celebrates
the 175th anniversary of its founding this year on a grand scale of pomp
and pageantry that perhaps no other school in the country can match, it
is a moot question to ask whether there are alternate voices from
within or outside Royal College, that have different views on how the
grand old school should celebrate its anniversaries and success with the
virtually unlimited resources it commands.
Parties on the streets may not be every student’s cup of tea in so far
as celebration of school anniversaries or use of school resources is
concerned, however plenty they may be. To be fair by Royal College it
has not been without dissident voices even within its student ranks, who
have grappled with moral conscience and spoken out in favour of others
less privileged than the ‘elite’ students attending some Colombo based
schools. ..................................>>
Learning Korean without Speaking - by Antonio Graceffo (31.05.2010 - Asian
Tribune)
South Korea : Normally, ALG say you do 800 hours of
listening, then you start speaking, and you do writing and reading last.
The reality is, however, if you are not at the Automatic Language
Growth (ALG) school in Bangkok, it is nearly impossible to arrange these
type of lessons for yourself.
And, strict ALG takes two years to learn a category three language, such
as Chinese, Thai or Korean. Most people working in a foreign country
can't invest two years in learning, particularly if they are on a one
year or two year contract. ...............................>>
The surrendered LTTE cadres are all uneducated : Training
them is another challenge - by K.
T. Rajasingham (28.05.2010 - Asiantribune.com)
Colombo :
Almost ninety per cent of the surrendered cadres of the Liberation
Tigers Tamil Eelam are uneducated. “They have not even completed their
secondary education,” said Minister of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms
D E W Gunasekera speaking to Asian Tribune.
Minister Gunasekera said initially nearly 11,000 LTTE cadres surrendered
after May 19 last year.
Out of them a total of 3000 were released and a balance of 8000 of them
are with the rehabilitation centers. The Minister further said even this
week they have released about 200 cadres. .............................>>
SB
wants to attract overseas students
to Lankan Universities (07.05.2010 - The Island, SL)
Newly appointed
Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake said the country’s
university system should be modernized to attract students from overseas
including the Middle East. Such a measure would also generate good
income, he said after assuming duties yesterday.
Dissanayake emphasized that the doors of the Ministry are open not only
to the leaders of the Inter University Students Federation but to any
undergraduate to discuss problems with the Minister. This also applies
to all staff from the Vice Chancellor down to the sanitary labourer, he
said. ..........................>>
Liberate universities ! (05.05.2010 - The
Island, SL - Editorial)
Sri Lanka has made a name for
herself as a country that has effectively neutralised terrorism. The JVP
terror was defeated on two occasions, in 1971 and in the late 1980s.
The LTTE terror which spanned three decades was brought to an end last
year.
However, there are still pockets of terrorism of a different kind. They
are the national universities, where some thugs in undergraduates' garb
are unleashing hell. These mentally deranged elements resort to all
forms of terrorism from torture to murder. They cut, stab and club one
another in internecine battles that erupt far too often on campuses. New
entrants have to undergo torture at the hands of psychopaths who call
it ragging. ................................>>
ICT
conference and exhibition in Jaffna
this week (05.05.2010
- The Island, SL)
The
Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA)
has focused its attention on further improvement of the standard of
life of the people of the North. As one of the steps in this regard,
ICTA has organised a workshop and an exhibition at the the Jaffna
library this week.
ICTA said that this event will be conducted to disseminate information
on projects that will benefit especially farmers, women, children, small
scale entrepreneurs as well as differently abled persons.
The workshop will be held today (05.05.2010) and the exhibition will be
on tomorrow (06.05.2010). A special focus at this event will be creating
awareness of projects initiated by the e-Society programme of ICTA. ............................>>
Lanka
worst affected by ragging : Chief Justice Asoka de Silva - by S. Thillainathan from Colombo (05.05.2010 -
Asiantribune.com)
Colombo : Sri Lanka, of late, is worst affected
by the menace of ragging in the world. It has now spread from
universities to other institutions such as Technical Colleges, said
Chief Justice Asoka De Silva.
He was addressing the national convention on student discipline: Anti
Ragging and Anti Violence held at Sri Lanka Foundation Institute
yesterday. This was organized by the University Grants Commission and
Vice Chancellors and directors committee.
The Chief Justice said only about 10 per cent of students who sit for
the advance level examination qualify to enter universities each year
and these privileged few are the cream of the country who could guide
the country to a new phase. .............................>>
How colonial
education system helped aggravate the Sinhala-Tamil problem - by Shenali Waduge (02.05.2010 - The
Nation, SL)
Sri Lanka’s maladies are many, confining to
more than one root cause. A factor that must not be forgotten is how the
primary issue stemmed from the education system introduced by the
colonial rulers that eventually helped shape the destruction that was to
follow.
To most the present conflict between the Sinhalese and Tamils is
connoted to depict a conflict between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil
minority and the oppression of the majority upon the minority. This
perception was first given weight during the mid 1950s when the Sinhala
majority government passed legislation (linguistic) making Sinhala the
only official language. It was also alleged that legislation was
introduced to curb Tamil entrance to university and Tamil access to
state employment. Much of this chagrin against the Sinhalese
conveniently omitted to acknowledge how prior to the introduction of the
legislation the unprecedented privileges given by the colonial rulers
to the Tamils who were privy to the best of missionary schooling and
plum jobs in the state sector. In spite of this, Tamil was made an
official language in the early 1900s. .................................>>
Uva Wellassa
University is the first ever entrepreneurial university in Sri
Lanka. It fulfils the requirement of producing undergraduates with
entrepreneurial skills much needed for the country. Daily News Business
highlighted its importance recently.
This is the first of a series of articles based on final year student
research reports on value addition which will be useful for
industrialists as well as readers. Interested parties can contact the
Uva Welassa University.
Nalinda A.N.
Ranasinghe, a final year student, specializing in Mechatronics
under the Science and Technology Degree program did a project titled ‘Low cost optical 3-D scanner for surface
registration of simple objects’ with the objective of designing
and implementing a low cost 3-D laser scanner device that is capable of
scanning and reconstruction of 3-D models of simple objects. .............................>>
