Letters to the Editor
View(s):Young athletes do us proud, now time for authorities to do their bit
Sri Lanka’s young athletes have once again brought pride and glory to the nation, excelling at both the South Asian Games and the Youth Games held in Bahrain. Their outstanding performances have reaffirmed that our island is a nation blessed with strength, discipline and an enduring spirit of sportsmanship.
These youth have proven that Sri Lanka continues to be a country rich in potential and determination. We have always been humble in victory and graceful in defeat, carrying forward the true values of our sporting heritage.
Sri Lanka was once the best in Asia — and today, our athletes have achieved that with pride and perseverance. It is now the responsibility of the relevant sports authorities and institutions to nurture this momentum by investing in scientific training, research and development, ensuring that the next generation of athletes reach even greater heights.
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to all our young champions, their coaches, mentors, and families who have contributed to this remarkable achievement.
We are proud of you — the youth of Mother Lanka!
Mahil Dole Via email
Is this what happens during a regime that promised honest governance?
The Sunday Times on October 26, published the news ‘Selection hullabaloo let the backbencher represent Sri Lanka instead of a top rank at World Championships’.
I am writing to express my abject disappointment that in this era of promised openness, transparency and honest governance – a gross injustice has been perpetrated with regard to the selection of a substandard candidate to represent Sri Lanka at the 53rd World Artistic Gymnastic Championships in Jakarta, October 18-25, 2025.
Shame on the parents who appealed to the NSSC (National Sports Selection Committee) to have their son selected over a proven top-class candidate and even more shame on the NSSC for even considering this insidious request and making a decision violating Federation procedure to select him.
Incidents of this nature cast a slur on the current regime which promised to be different.
Suranganie Ranasinha Colombo 7
The menace of tuition and those ‘master’ tacticians
In nearly every major town, there now exists a ‘tuition lane’ — narrow streets choked with students arriving to or departing from the homes and halls of so-called tuition masters. At peak hours, these lanes become impassable, not just for vehicles but even for pedestrians.
The visual pollution is equally overwhelming. Walls and lamp posts are plastered with posters and billboards — some larger than those of multinational corporations — flaunting the faces of these masters alongside their students and the grades they claim to have produced in Grade 5 scholarship exams, O/Ls, and A/Ls. Whether these results are genuine, or whether they reflect the efforts of the school system, the students’ own abilities, or the tuition itself, remains known only to the masters themselves.
What is certain, however, is that these individuals are master tacticians. When members of the current government — back when they were in opposition — criticised the state education system and the burden of unaffordable tuition fees on parents, these same masters swiftly organised themselves into a “Sansadaya” and began campaigning for AKD. Their political agility is as sharp as their marketing.
Perhaps the government could take a page from their playbook. If the state cannot recruit enough teachers, why not emulate the tuition model? Equip large halls or multi-storey buildings with speakers and TV screens, and let a single teacher instruct thousands. After all, the tuition industry has already proven that mass education — at least in numbers — is possible.
B. Perera Via email
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