Pleading for Activism Listening to all those before me I was reminded of an incident in my life. When I had my first baby, my mother came to stay with me to help me out. Watching me do things, she totally disapproved of the way I was bringing up my baby. “Thank god, that there are a million ways of bringing up a baby”, she snorted, “or I would shudder to think of this baby’s fate..” Yes, there are a million ways of bringing up babies and thankfully so is this true for building peace. There are a million ways of working for peace. Today in this forum we heard good diagnosis and prescriptions for some of them. But...having been a peace activist in Sri Lanka for long years, I have always been stuck with just one question, “who?”. “who should work for peace?” Ours has been a protracted conflict continuing for decades between the Sri Lankan State and Tamil society. As the government was one party to this conflict, it obviously couldn’t play a major role in building peace. The private sector , due to its particularly weak nature in this small country, lacked capacity. So, who else remained? It were first the churches and then the NGOs which were in the forefront of raising awareness and mobilizing on the issue of peace. But what amount of brickbats they have received and still continue to receive for this “crime”? Christian conspiracy, imperialist agenda, dollar kakas so on and on. Having dismissed them thus, who amongst us came forward to take their place? I was one of the participants of a demonstration organized by a coalition of women’s groups at the Lipton’s Circle. We stood on the roundabout with placards declaring that we women were against the war, while the noon traffic was milling around us. I caught the eye of a motor cycle rider waiting for the traffic lights to change. “We are against killings. Come join us to support the cause for peace” I called out to him. “We are also for peace, but…” he shrugged his shoulders, “we cannot help going to war” and he sped away as soon as the lights turned green. Not only that man, but large numbers in this country today believe that there is no alternative to war. “ What can we do, its in the hands of Prabakaran” they say and abdicate their responsibilities. Is it true? Is there no choice at all? Is this the way that nature created, the good guys and the bad guys, and all the necessary wars? Its amazingly true. Our own lives are what they are because of us, the choices we made – or, failed to make. The world is in the condition it is in, because of all of us, the choices we have made – or, failed to make. The first step in changing anything is to know and accept that we have chosen it to be what it is. Only when we say “we did this” can we find the power to change it. We seek to create change not because a thing is wrong, but because it no longer makes an accurate statement of who each of us are. Desire is the beginning of all creations. It is, let me say, god choosing what next to create. Our doubts about the outcomes of our efforts are our greatest enemy, which is fear. Fear is the opposite of everything we are. A society living in fear inevitably produces in form which it fears most. That is why Friends, I have come here today to plead for activism. We can march fearlessly together to transform ourselves. Each of you make that choice and can make a difference. Let me share with you something I read which moved me: “You are the deepest wisdom and the highest truth; the greatest peace and the grandest love. And in moments of your life you have known yourself as these things. Choose now to know yourself as these things always..” Thankyou Kollywood and the Eelam ConnectionShanthi Sachithanandam “ Bid farewell to us, our Land Scene of refugees fleeing to Tamil Nadu in the film Kannathil Muththamittaal This was back in 2003. As I entered the LTTE office at Puliyankulam in the Vanni to obtain my ‘visa’ to enter the North, I noticed a familiar figure in the waiting room. My heart beat a trifle faster at his sight. He was Nizhalgal Ravi , a famous actor in the South Indian Tamil film industry who had acted under recognized directors in films such as Mani Ratnam’s Nayagan and Balu Mahendra’s Marupadiyum. “I have heard about Mankulam so much. I was determined to see it for myself and that is the purpose of my visit here..” he was heard explaining to someone sitting next to him. He was on his pilgrimage to Mankulam! Sure enough, the heroic battles waged by the LTTE in the defense of Mankulam town during Jayasikurui operations had fired the imagination of the film world in Chennai. But that could not be the only reason why Kodampakkam filmdom (popularly known as Kollywood), that is now being rated to be at par with the commercialization and technological development of the international film industry, had got starry eyed about the affairs of the Sri Lankan Tamils. It is a highly professional outfit dictated to by the market, and the market only. There had to be a more solid reason than the idealism of a national liberation struggle. Perhaps market was the reason that Tamil films hardly referred to the existence of Sri Lankan Tamils during the pre 1980s. After all, we were a mere 3 million compared to their 80 million. In the films of yesteryears, occasionally a character might run away to ‘Ceylon’, that was all one heard about in reference to this country. Although the influx of thousands of refugees from Sri Lanka in the 1980s forced the Tamils in Tamil Nadu to take notice of this group called Sri Lankan Tamils, it did not significantly alter the existing status quo of the Sri Lankan Tamils. As far as their cinema was concerned, this had not made any impact. Yes, evergreen hero and the then Chief Minister M.G.Ramachandran was known to hold a candle for Prabakaran; some music directors and singers did work on music albums produced for the various SL Tamil militant groups; being an ardent supporter of the Eelam cause, hero actor Vijayakanth did produce and act in a film titled “Captain Prabakaran” ( which story incidentally was not even remotely connected to the real struggle taking place here). But, leaving these peripheral factors aside, Kollywood made no attempts to depict nor take the message of Sri Lankan Tamils to their audience. The large scale emigration of Sri Lankan Tamils to western Europe, North America and Australia began to change this equation. The economic opportunities that opened to the new immigrants in these countries helped develop their entrepreneur skills. Ever enthusiastic in nurturing and developing their language and cultural traditions, it were the Sri Lankan Tamils who initiated the 24 hour Tamil radio and television transmissions in these countries. Tamil language magazines abounded and Hindu temples sprouted practically everywhere. It is remarkable that despite the presence of larger numbers of South Indian Tamils, these initiatives had to come from the Sri Lankans who were late arrivals and that too as asylum seekers. Anyway, inevitably all the mentioned ventures needed fund raising events and also various celebrations, for which South Indian Stars were invited. This is where the new found economic power of the Sri Lankan Tamils began to be felt by Kollywood. Beginning around the 1990s, the most popular stars of the South Indian cinema were invited to North America and western Europe for musical and dance shows. These shows provided considerable incomes to the actors and actresses outside of their usual film commitments, which were rather seasonal. Not restricting themselves to merely hiring stars for shows, the diaspora Tamil community began to dabble in film production. In 1988 a Sri Lankan Tamil living in UK financed director Balu Mahendra’s film “Veedu” (meaning house), which was acclaimed and went on to win national awards in India. This financier was the former member of the Thamil Maanavar Peravai (Tamil Students Forum) in Jaffna, and one of the suspects arrested in 1974 in connection with the early acts of sabotage there and subsequently released. “Veedu” is significant as probably the first film that brought out the dilemmas of the growing educated middle class of South India through depicting the struggle of a working couple trying to acquire land and build a house in Chennai. Thus opened the possibility of Sri Lankans investing in Kollywood films. Films identified as having Sri Lankan investors started appearing around the 1990s. Some of them were specifically marked as sponsored by the LTTE. “Kattrukkenna Veli” (meaning can the wind be fenced in) was one such film which traces the experiences of a female tiger cadre taken across to Tamil Nadu for medical treatment after a major Army camp attack. Director Seeman’s “Thambi” (meaning younger brother) released in 2005, was also rumoured as having been financed by LTTE’s television channel. There was a strong basis for this suspicion , as the title name is what Prabakaran was popularly known amongst his peers in the 1970s and 1980s due to him being the youngest of them all. Also, this film script was based on the argument that only violence produces social change. The hero, significantly named as Velu Thondaimaan, is supposed to be a revolutionary characterized as possessing infinite love along with immense anger intolerant of injustice. The popular heart throb Madhavan and the part Sri Lankan heroine Pooja acted in this film which ran 150 days full house. Seeman was interviewed in the magazine ‘Anantha Vikaten’, a weekly sold over a million copies in Tamil Nadu. “I dedicate this film to both Periyaar (the great Tamil intellectual E.V. Ramasamy) and Prabakaran..” he declared. Whatever these may be, the diaspora community made more impact as viewers and fans rather than as investors of films. Tamil films began to be heavily dependant on the market in the developed countries especially amongst the Sri Lankan Tamils. It is claimed that top actor Kamalhasan earns his income for acting in films by buying the rights to distribution in these countries. Nowadays Tamil films run in the main film circuits in the UK in London as well as other cities such as Birmingham. Recently, actor Vijay’s (rated as the future super star) film “Pokkiri” (meaning Rascal) ran to box office records in UK prompting the star to publicly thank his Sri Lankan fans. Mani Ratnam had the premiere of his film “Guru” starring Aishwarya Rai and Abishek Bachchan, not in any cities of India, but in Torronto! Thangar Bachchan, a director of serious films and a prominent member of the Film Actors Guild burst out at other big stars in an interview to Ananda Vikaten. Even though these actors and directors as Thangar Bachchan claims have not climbed up on political stages to vocalize their support, they have brought out some powerful films on the Eelam struggle and the situation of the immigrants. The classical director Bala did “Nanda”, shot in Rameswaram about a local overlord getting entangled in the politics of the boat refugees from Sri Lanka. This film is undoubtedly one of the greatest to emerge from Kollywood. Mani Ratnam made “Kannathil Muththamittaal” (meaning if your cheeks are kissed) about an adopted nine year old girl from Chennai going in search of her biological mother who is a LTTE cadre in the Vanni. Kamalhassan produced and acted in “Thenali” a serious comedy where the hero is a young Sri Lankan living in Tamil Nadu traumatized by his experiences during the war. Kamalhassan made another film “Nala Damayanthi” where the heroine is a Sri Lankan single woman living in Australia. Another recent release is “Cyanide”, originally made in Kannada about one of the accomplices in the Rajiv Gandhi murder, Sivarasan. This has become a runaway success in Karnataka and is now dubbed and released in Tamil Nadu. Cyanide’s director Suresh was asked as to why he shone Sivarasan as a hero in that film. He had explained that even though killing Rajiv Gandhi was unacceptable, the struggle waged by the Tamils in their homeland had to be given due respect. Apart from films made in India on the Eelam struggle, attempts have been made also to produce them in the authentic setting of the Vanni. Art director Mahendran’s son John was invited by one Mr. Prabakaran (not the LTTE leader) who heads the Tamil Living Media Network in Switzerland, to make a film in the Vanni. Accordingly “Aaniver” (meaning tap root) was filmed in the Vanni under LTTE’s supervision. The director admitted that leader Prabakaran advised extensively on the storyline , desiring it to deal exclusively with the plight of the war affected Vanni Tamils. This film has now been nominated for the International film festival to be held in Hyderabad in April 2007 purely on the initiatives of the jury. During the period of making this film, Mahendran also traveled to the Vanni to conduct film production classes for artistes there. Joining this line of film directors, Bharathiraja has vowed to make a film on the Eelam struggle, after his travels to the Vanni around the same time. “When I met leader Prabakaran, I developed goose pimples..” he was later to recount his experiences in an interview. Not only directors, but song writers too jumped on to the political platform of Eelam. After the year 2000 many love songs have been composed where references are made to the Eelam war. “ When the Eelam war ceases, I want to decorate your hair with the flowers blooming from its soil..” says one lover. “Let all noises cease including the sounds of war from Eelam so I can hear only the noise of your breath..” says another. In another film where the hero and heroine come from different social classes, she poses a series of questions to her lover in a song. “What if you are America and I am Afghanistan, where can we hold our wedding?” is one such question. The hero answers all the questions except when she asks “what if you are Sri Lanka and I am LTTE..?” To this question he can only howl “Aiyo, please shut your mouth..” All these songs have been mega hits. The Tamil cinema has changed very much in many ways except one. That is the sway it has over Tamil Nadu politics. Being an actor sought by the market also means that one has the possibility to become the chief Minister of the State. M.G. Ramachandran, a Malayali by birth, was never defeated till he died. Even Karunanidhi had to maintain his links with the cinema world in order to strengthen his political fortunes. Super star Rajinikanth, a Kannadiga, was persuaded time and again by his fans to contest elections in Tamil Nadu. Vijayakanth is another up and coming political personality. Actually, at present, the situation is that almost all the stars who are professionally on the wane have jumped into political work. Apart from creating political leaders, the Tamil cinema has also played on the caste politics in Tamil Nadu. Sometimes the theatres where new films of popular actors are released become the arena where these caste conflicts are fought out. The urban under class doubles up as fans as well as the mass base of these parties. I was traveling in an auto in Chennai. As is usual to Chennai traffic the ride was hazardous, prompting me to let out screams of fear. “What Amma, you people are fighting the Sri Lanka Army so heroically in your country and you are scared of such small things here..?” the auto driver asked me to my utter surprise! He, is that participant in the demonstrations that the Tamil Nadu political parties organize in support of Eelam cause, and also, the politicized voter. In both roles he can exert significant influence on his government which in turn would do the same on the government in New Delhi. Unless we are aware of the moods displayed by Tamil Nadu, we will never be able to fathom the moves of New Delhi. Campaign for Rights Based Education If education is to be viewed within the frame work of fundamental rights, Viluthu outlined seven criteria in its recommendation, as those fulfilling all the elements of a fundamental right. Those were availability, accessibility, non-discrimination, physical accessibility, acceptability, quality and accessibility of information. Under this overarching approach, The management and Delivery of Education, Upgrading the Quality of Teaching Service, Curriculum formulation and the Production and Distribution of text books were considered for analysis. Viluthu argued that a government institution such as the Ministry of Education cannot totally manage the whole process in education provision. There is always a tendency to over centralize amongst State agencies. This leads to a violation of the rights of parents and children to exercise choice in their education, and robs teachers and able educationists the opportunity to be creative and innovative in delivering education. Instead, the role of the State should be to regularize, support and assess the performance of the various institutions involved in the production and delivery of education. Emphasis should be placed on the quality of output of the education process rather than on the input received in the form of number of teachers or the level of training they acquire. Viluthu underscores that education contributes greatly towards conflict transformation and peace building. The extent to which the center delegated authority to the periphery, the willingness to allow the curriculum to reflect the needs and aspirations of all communities, and the level to which the participation and decision making space is opened up for the education institutions of the regions are the main factors that go towards making this. See below Viluthu’s proposals to the Government in detail……. Submission of Proposals for formulating a New Education Act Sri Lanka February 2008 Viluthu 3, Torrington Avenue Introduction: On the Directions of His Excellency the President, the Minister of Education, Hon. Susil Premajayantha has appointed a National Committee under the chairmanship of Dr G. B. Gunawardena and comprising panel of eminent scholars in the field of Education to inquire into the Education Ordinance No.31 of 1939 and its amendments, identify aspects appropriate for the present and formulate a New Act for General Education in Sri Lanka This document contains a set of proposals to be submitted to the National Committee, prepared by Viluthu, Centre for Human Resource Development. As one of the civil society organizations in Sri Lanka, Viluthu would like to express its gratitude to His Excellency the President, and the Minister of Education, Hon. Susil Premajayantha for extending this rare opportunity for civil society to be part of the formulation process of a new education act for Sri Lanka. These proposals are prepared in the hope that they would contribute towards the New Education Act that will provide the framework that would ensure the right to education of every male and female child in this country. About Viluthu Viluthu works with the mandate of building capacities for good governance. As good governance is dependant upon the values, knowledge and skills of a society, formal education was identified as a strategic sector to be supported through its programs. The objective of Viluthu’s education program is to promote the delivery of quality education that produces generations of young adults who are able to establish a free thinking and democratic society. Viluthu has been publishing a monthly journal in Tamil named “ Aha Vili” for teachers for the past four years. Aha Vili facilitates discussions on critical issues related to teaching and learning, professional development of teachers and the management of education. Currently about 4,500 issues of Aha Vili are being sold in the market. In addition to the publication of Aha Vili, Viluthu also focuses on single issues such as the impact of gender in education. For instance, a competition on writing research papers was conducted for teachers on themes connected to this issue, and the commended papers compiled as a publication. Further reading materials for teachers are also being published periodically on gender in education, viewing history, education reforms, and formulation of syllabus and curriculum. The seminars and discussions conducted in the various teacher training institutions have been influenced by the issues in Viluthu’s publications. . Summary of the Proposals Section 1 Education - a Fundamental Right We consider that education is a fundamental right. The first chapter traces the right to education as part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and as enshrined in our constitution. The Sri Lankan state has taken total responsibility for the delivery of education. In this context, the section analyses the State’s duties and how these duties could be assessed and evaluated. Section 2 The management of Education and its Delivery - Basic Assumptions In the backdrop of the Sri Lankan state having assumed total responsibility for the delivery of education, it is possible to list four assumptions on the basis of the concept of right to education. Section 3 The Education System On the basis of the assumptions that we enumerated previously on the management of education, we look at the school education system in this chapter. It argues that State resources should be shared amongst the schools based on student volume, facilities and community support that it enjoys. The two principles applied in arguing this are, that schools where poor children attend should possess advantage over the others, and that those communities which could support their schools should be given adequate autonomy to find creative solutions to manage them with excellence. Thus it explains how schools could be classified in to government schools, assisted schools and private schools. Section 4 Upgrading Quality of Teaching Service This section looks at how teaching could be upgraded to obtain optimum outputs of education. The gap within schools in the provision of teachers, the reluctance exhibited by teachers to serve in backward areas, and the apathy shown by teachers in their own professional development are taken up for discussions here. Section 5 Syllabus, Text book Writing and Distribution We argue that while decisions on syllabus should be taken by a central authority like the Ministry of Education, each region (in this instance the Province) should be given the autonomy of devising its own curriculum based on the need for knowledge of the specific resources and conditions of that particular area. This will go a long way in reducing out migration of the educated class from backward regions; ensuring that students of a particular region empathize and understand their own environment, and are ready to serve or productively exploit those resources and conditions, after completion of their studies. Following this, we also touch upon the need for multiple text books for classes. The reasons are that we consider that there are more innovative ways than one to teach any subject; the negative effects of the monopoly maintained by the government over text books in closing avenues for gifted teachers to share their knowledge and squashing the private sector in the publishing industry; and the need for text books to be rooted in the objective conditions of the students in particular regions. It is concluded that using multiple text books not only improve reading habits among students but also can spark a renaissance of the publishing industry. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is very explicit in stating that education is one of the Basic Human Rights. According to the UDHR, each person is entitled to education, primary education is compulsory and should be provided free of charge, technical and professional education should be accessible to all, and that higher education should be equally accessible to each according to their capacity. By the term ‘Fundamental’ we mean “bare minimum” i.e. which is inalienable and cannot be abridged or taken away. And, is the minimum necessary condition for existence. 1.1. Criteria for evaluation Availability: Inputs necessary for the provision of education made available, such as infrastructure, teachers etc. The next section looks at certain conditions under which States function, and how they impinge on the exercise of the right to education. 2 Proposals contained in this document are based on the following basic premises: 2.1 Government Agencies cannot manage the total aspects of the delivery of education Constraints in resource allocation form the second reason. Over the years we find that the State has had to reduce the resources allocated to education sector. The National Schools system brought with the objective of sharing resources equally between all the districts, has itself led to major inequity within the districts. The third reason is the observable lack of integration of the community with the school. It must be acknowledged that the State agencies are incapable of mobilizing the participation of the community in education. When reflected upon in depth, it becomes clear that the private sector and civil society also have much to offer in improving quality of education. Our education system employs more than 200,000 teachers and about 50,000 officials. This is a huge bureaucracy organized from the zone to the district to the province and then to the center, concentrating increasing power all the way up. In this system the school management and even the zonal education community are made impotent. Unless fundamental changes are brought about, there is no possibility of solving the myriad of situation specific problems faced by each school community. A healthy competition is a pre-condition for increasing quality of performance in institutions. There should be competition between teacher training institutions as well as schools. They must be given adequate autonomy so as to take initiatives to enhance their performances. Resource allocation and honours should be awarded on the basis of the performance ratings of institutions. 2.4 A central authority is necessary to ensure maximum standards. The role of the State is to thus regulate, support and assess the performance of the various institutions involved in the production and delivery of education. Some suggestions outlining how this maybe done are given in the next sections. The size of school is determined by several inter related factors such as number of students on roll, number of teachers / the cadre, and, buildings and infra-structure. If a village school has classes from grade 1 – 13 the minimum number of classrooms required is 13 and size of the student population should be 13x25=325. Similarly, for a school with classes from 1 – 11 the student population should be at least 11x25=275. In reality, the schools in the remote areas do not fit this neat and ideal sizes. Suppose a rural village school which has classes from grade 1 to 11 has only 90 students on roll. The number makes the school weak and vulnerable in all respects, because the average student per classroom is 8. Furthermore, the education department cannot afford to provide a full compliment of teachers to manage the 9 classrooms. Even the buildings available in such schools are inadequate. The 1C schools in district capitals and small towns in dry zone districts have another set of problems. Some of them have students in the region of 3000 – 4000, but due to being situated in a poor region possess little support of its community. And therefore they are classified as weak schools. The other variable is the support of the school community. Although it is said that free education is provided to all students irrespective of the children’s social class, majority of the schools in Sri Lanka are supported in their day to day running costs by the community both directly and indirectly. Thus, the facilities that a school boasts, and the performance by the principal and teachers are a result of the constant vigilance and financial support of the parents and well wishers. This is how a school attains stature and maintains quality. In order to illustrate this the school types are represented in a graph format where the x axis is the size of school and the y axis is the community support. High
Low Small Large Size of the School In order to explain this classification we would like to take a few case studies. School A : Classes Gr 1 – 11 School B : School C : From these examples we can assume that there are basically three types of schools in our midst. Type A with high level of community support, Type B are not elite schools but those which have ample community support, and Type C which has no community support due to the poor living conditions of the parents. School System at Present – Statistics Type No. of Percentage No. of Percentage - Majority of the 1AB schools conform exactly to the classification ‘P’. We propose that those schools which lack sufficient community support should continue to remain in the hands of the state. More funds and other resources should be allocated to these schools in order to raise their standards. Schools that can manage on their own with the support of the community should be made autonomous. That is how we come to the three grades of schools, those which are government schools, those that are government assisted schools, and private schools. A majority of the grade 3 and grade 2 schools come under the government managed schools. Exceptions would be the small schools supported by the community – especially the urban schools catering to the rich. Most of the 1C schools qualify for conversion to the status of assisted schools. They need independence and freedom to take decisions on matters concerning their day to day running of the school. However, salaries of teachers should be met by the government. The government can make the numbers of scholarship children obtaining free education in these schools as one criteria for the level of assistance that is provided. 1AB and 1C schools qualify for privatization. This will relieve the financial burden of the government, and the budget funds could be directed to poor schools. This would result in the optimization of benefits in the whole system, and help to equalize the quality of education provided for the poor leading to justice. 4 The Ministry of Education is the biggest employer within the Government sector. Its recurrent expenditure is much more than its capital expenditure, most part of which goes towards salaries for teachers. Needless to say that their service has a direct impact on the outputs of our education system. Therefore, it becomes imperative to increase outputs and quality of the service provided by the teachers in order to make our education system more efficient. We have identified three deficiencies in the current teaching service.
Let us look at these deficiencies in detail. 1. A dichotomy has been created in the school system due to mainly the inequitable distribution of teachers. This has led to the following opposing status of schools: Urban Schools vs. Rural Village schools There are several factors that promote this increasing polarization. The root cause is not the management, but is structural in nature. There are structural rigidities that prevent any change in the system. Just to illustrate this problem we would like to discuss a case study of Kalaimahal Vidyalayam (fictitious name), situated five miles from the main town of a district. Kalaimahal Vidyalayam Case Study In 1987 this school had classes up to O’Level. Today it has been upgraded to a 1C school with students from 7 villages around it. The student population was 750 in 1987 and increased to 1300 at present. The teaching cadre needed is 58 but only 46 teachers are employed. Instead of 6 graduate teachers needed to teach the Arts and Commerce A’Level classes only three are appointed. They have a shortage of teachers in the subjects of English, Math and Science for the lower classes. In the past twenty years many teachers were appointed but they obtained transfers and left. The result was that the vacancies remained static.
It can be noticed that in 1997 there was a deviation to the norm, but that was because a particular politician intervened and filled many of the vacancies. But it can be seen that this reverted back to the previous status in the following years. One can show hundreds of schools like Kalaimahal Vidyalam. The problem therefore, is a centralized and integrated recruitment system. A straightforward solution would be to permit a separate cadre of teachers who are directly employed by the school. Looking at Kalaimagal Vidyalayam, we could suggest that this school be allowed to recruit 20% of their teaching cadre needs. This is the only way to rectify this imbalance in the system and solve crucial problems affecting the school. Moreover, an independent service will evolve in parallel within the system. This will encourage those teachers who actually wish to choose teaching as a profession to join this service willingly. They also have the freedom to quit employment. This way the current resource deficiency in certain subjects such as English, Maths and Science can be eliminated. Each school can develop a cadre of teachers, and the community’s participation will increase in supporting to do the same. (ii) Reluctance to serve in rural schools is a problem found in any unified service. If you take the present system, a teacher’s employer is Secretary to the Ministry of Education and not the school or the school Board. Our surmise is that if the contract of employment is between the school and the teacher the attitude of the teacher as well as the school community is bound to change. We again reiterate the need to somehow bring teaching as a profession that is willingly chosen by prospective candidates and not because that was the only avenue available for employment with the government. It must be noted that it is important to provide the choice of work place to the teacher. Another way to improve the situation of rural schools will be to make all the appointments to the teaching service restricted to a particular zone. Taking an example of an office under the public service; the Grama Niladari working in the Batticaloa region. This officer does not as a rule transfer out of his/her present AGA division, and can never get a transfer out of the district of Batticaloa to say for instance Colombo to work as a Grama Niladari there. Similar conditions have to be imposed on the teaching service. It must be made not transferable which will also greatly reduce political interferences. (iii) The basic features of the teaching profession have to be analyzed so as to understand the impediments to development of the service as a profession. Even though the Ministry of Education had taken the decision long ago to appoint only those teachers who were fully trained, there were many obstacles to put this decision in to practice. They can be cited as the pressure exerted on the government by unemployed graduates to provide employment, and the frequent demands made by volunteer teachers to make their employment permanent. Moreover, the various teacher training institutes have a large role to play in the development of professionalism. Training institutes and Colleges of Education should open their gates to individuals who wish to choose teaching as a profession so as to change the present ‘closed’ system. There must be an opportunity to exercise choice as in professions like Law and Accountancy. Also, the teacher training institutions must function on the concept of ‘serving the market’, which then presupposes that there is competition amongst them. A healthy competition is an impetus to improve quality, which can be sustained by performance rating by an arm of the Ministry, and the allocation of grants and other resources by the government based on this performance rating of the outputs. At present, there is only control of the inputs. 5 It is an accepted fact that most of the qualified students from under developed rural areas almost always migrate towards urban centers for employment and settlement. The main reason is that the skills imparted within our education system is more appropriate for the labour market in the urban areas. This is a vicious circle where the under developed regions remain as that for generations until some dramatic investment is made in the area. That is why we argue that a school curriculum should be related to children’s immediate environment in a way to evoke respect and understanding. One instance we may cite is the lagoon of Batticaloa. This eco system is so integral to the Batticaloa community’s life and livelihoods. It is imperative that the students of Batticaloa should have a thorough understanding of this system so that they can exploit it productively for the betterment of their community. But this is not a need for the students from Colombo. It then concludes that the students of Batticaloa may need some special aspects included in their own curriculum which is not present in the curriculums of other districts. Let syllabus be decided by the centre, but the curriculum should be formulated at the regions. The public examinations could help maintain uniform standards all over the country. This brings us to the issue of text books. Text books are important inputs that contribute to the quality of education that is geared towards examinations at 3 levels, which are year 5 scholarship examination, G.C.E (O/L) at the end of year 11, and G.C.E. (A/L) after study at year 12 & 12 classes. Hitherto, writing, printing and distribution of text books has been a centrally managed affair. The text books needed for 3.9 million students in this country are produced at the centre. There is no one way or method of explaining a subject, we need different perspectives to provide a total picture. Using different text books provides this opportunity to the students. In Sri Lanka we have a strange phenomenon of students using just one book everywhere in the country. A particular module in science for instance , can be studied only in one way. These are written by a small group of persons who are in charge of writing text books. A question can be raised whether they are the only experts on this subject. Having taken the whole responsibility, the State does not deliver it in full too. The Tamil A’Level classes do not have any text books, the students have to use teachers’ notes instead. This practice which had continued for a long period has killed the initiative and creativity of other teachers. It has made reading and self learning habits wane and have encouraged children to seek tuition classes. We hark back to the period when there were numerous text books churned out by gifted teachers who sometimes even became celebrities! State monopoly has stifled this. It is imperative that there should be choice and multiple options in text books. The market forces would determine the required quality. Furthermore, this would lead to a flourishing publishing industry and bookshops. The economics of publishing is that in relatively small markets like Sri Lanka it is the text book publishing that provides the base for other publishing work to be carried out. In this manner if we could support the private sector we can catalyze an intellectual revolution in the country. Conclusion Moreover, the way education is managed does influence conflict transformation and peace building. The extent to which the center delegates authority to the periphery, the willingness to allow the curriculum to reflect the needs and aspirations of all communities, and level to which the participation and decision making space is opened up for the education institutions of the regions are the main factors that go towards making this. We humbly request the members of the National Committee to take into consideration all these factors when formulating their conclusions. Peace building campaign - December 2007 A campaign was initiated in the print media, in all three languages, encouraging children to write on peace issues. Some topical images in the form of photographs, depicting some aspects of the war and the then current peace process were published every week. This became the lead for the write up by children. Termed “Voices and Visuals for Peace” this project concluded with the publication of the collection of writings of the children. The culmination of the project also saw a national event where the participating children and their parents participated together with the education community. Yellow Ribbon Campaign - Oct 2005 This is a campaign for the rights of women to work without incurring slander. When aspersions of loose moral character was cast on women who worked for the NGOs in the East of Sri Lanka, Viluthu staff did a house to house campaign to motivate the women in the eastern districts defy these allegations. Women were mobilized to tie a yellow ribbon on their entrances to their homes to say that they do not accept these allegations and that they will continue to go to work since it is their right to do so Many households participated in this campaign Campaign to strengthen theatre groups
In 2004, Pralayan, a famed street theatre artist from India was invited to spend one month sharing his expertise and experience with the theatre groups in Sri Lanka. He conducted theatre workshops for groups in the plantation sector, Kilinochchi, Trincomalee and Jaffna. At the end of a comprehensive script writing and production workshop in Trincomalee, a street performance named “Othukkathi Othukkan” ( Mr. Exclusion) was written and performed on the theme of peace building between the Muslim and Tamil community. This was subsequently performed 23 times in Mutur main market, Mutur Vidyalayam school premises, Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi and Jaffna. It was hailed as a pathfinder in Sri Lankan Tamil street theatre by the theatre artisits based in the Vanni districts. As a result of this activity, a bond was forged between the Tamil groups from Kilinochchi and the displaced Muslim community in Puttalam creating a positive impact of the project. They went on to collaborate and carry out 49 performances in Puttalam and Kalpitiya without any external support. *******************************************************************
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