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Amendment to Universities Act: FUTA calls for military -civilian separation in higher education
View(s):The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) has expressed dismay at the Government’s sudden decision to amend the Universities Act of 1978.
In a statement, FUTA noted that the Government on July 20 issued a gazette notification to amend the Universities Act of 1978 and bring “universities for a specific purpose” under the purview of the University Grants Commission (UGC).
“This sudden and ad-hoc amendment to the Universities Act appears to be a calculated move to bring the Kotelawala National Defence University (KNDU) within the purview of the UGC,” the statement said.
It appears that the Government, reacting to the public protests against the KNDU Bill, is trying to push ahead with its distorted project of mixing military and civilian education through this amendment, FUTA said. “The Government and its advisors are meddling with the higher education regulatory framework of this country either with malicious intent to destabilise the entire university system or in absolute ignorance of the far-reaching consequences of their actions.”
By surreptitiously attempting to bring the KNDU within the purview of the UGC, the Government hopes to achieve the same objectives contained in the KNDU Bill, FUTA charged. It pointed out that the UGC is an entity that regulates civilian university education in the country. It has neither the expertise nor the capacity to regulate a defence establishment. If the KNDU is brought within the purview of the UGC, it will result in a situation where the UGC’s authority is undermined and questioned, FUTA warned.
It also claimed there was a major contradiction in the amendment, which the government’s advisors appear to have missed in their haste.
“If KNDU is to be brought under the UGC as a ‘specific purpose university’, which would naturally mean a university set up for the ‘specific purpose’ of educating military officers, how can civilian programmes of study be a part of this university? The classification of KNDU as a ‘specific purpose university’ will automatically invalidate and render illegal all the civilian programmes currently operating without regulatory sanction in the university. It is apparent, therefore, that through its hasty, non-consultative tinkering with the Universities Act of 1978 the Government has created a situation that can result in further confusion, uncertainty and instability in the higher education and university sector in this country.”
FUTA urged the Government to refrain from using this amendment to the Universities Act “to forcibly yoke a military institution into the civilian administration structure of the UGC.”
Instead, it asked the Government to immediately restructure the existing Kotelawala National Defence University so that it serves its original, intended purpose of providing higher education to officers of the tri-forces. “At the same time, we insist that current civilian programmes of study in this university be transferred to the existing university system in this country. The time has come to end this distorted drama of non-merit based militarised civilian education performed at the expense of public tax payer money. Military education can and should have its own domain and civilian education should be left in the hands of able, competent and qualified civilian educators,” the statement insisted.
(SJ)