Features

EDUCATION IN THE PLANTATION SECTOR

Published

3 years ago

2024/02/4

Thilina Walpola

Happy and fulfilled children are a gift to the world

(Excerpted from the autobiography of Merrill J. Fernando)

Apart from livelihoods, post-tsunami, children’s education was one of the most deeply-affected dimensions. Our team established pre-schools for children in the affected areas and supplied teachers, specially trained by the Foundation not only to educate but also to handle emotional and physical trauma, resulting from the tsunami experience.

The outcomes of the educational assistance initiatives are probably most visible in the plantation sector, across three Regional Plantation Companies, benefiting several thousand children in terms of learning, equipment, accessories, and other facilities and, equally importantly, nutrition. At a higher level, bright students have been provided scholarships to enable them to pursue university education. This initiative has already produced two medical doctors and two lawyers, whilst there are five such students currently reading for their medical degrees in the medical faculties of the Jaffna, Rajarata, and Peradeniya Universities. The present judge in the Magistrate’s Court of Jaffna is also a direct beneficiary of the plantation residents’ scholarship programme.

The inadequacies of education in plantation areas are not visible to the mainstream because of the insular nature of the plantation society. Most plantation youth, male and female, because of overcrowded housing, a reluctance to engage in the traditional manual work of their parents, the desire for easy money, and the real need for augmenting family income, drop out very early from educational systems and seek employment outside.

However, due to lack of marketable skills and the minimalistic level of formal education, these youth are relegated to employment mostly below the blue collar level, condemning them and their progeny to the same vicious cycle of marginalization. Without assistance from specially-designed schemes, providing plantation youth access to higher education, the plantation sector will remain, well into the foreseeable future, a source of unskilled, low-paid labour, for the benefit of the more affluent external society.

The sweat and toil of our plantation workers, for over a century, have helped create billionaires in the other countries, in Europe and elsewhere, and in our country as well. I was first exposed to this culture of exploitation on my first visit to England, more than six decades ago when I underwent training as a Tea Taster at Mincing Lane, then the global centre of the tea trade. However, the worker who produces the tea, which enriches so many others in the commercial pipeline, remains marginalized. Unless the value created by the tea remains in the country and a surplus is channeled back for the workers’ benefit, as Dilmah is doing, the plantation worker’s lot will not change.

Personal experience

When I visited the tsunami-hit areas of the south, I saw for myself the impact of the devastation. I met children who had lost parents and siblings, and parents who had lost their children. People had lost homes and livelihoods. Some of these children had been so traumatized by their experiences, that they would not communicate or interact with society, in their silence and mute withdrawal, finding a measure of solace for an inexplicable tragedy.

Those who could muster the will to talk related the most harrowing tales of personal loss and deprivation. Listening to individual stories of such tragedies I felt so distressed that I could not even imagine how devastating it would have been to the individual who was telling me the story.

On one of his visits to the north, two doctors serving in the region had met Dilhan and requested him to build a new wing for the Accident Ward of the Kayts Hospital. I was not confident of the benefits of this kind of initiative, largely because of a disappointing experience previously with the Maharagama Cancer Hospital. The Foundation donated to the hospital a mammogram machine, which was idle for months after installation as the hospital did not provide X-ray film. However, Dilhan ascertained that the doctors who approached him were genuine and, about a year later, we completed construction of the new wing.

At Kayts – with a happy beneficiary

I attended the opening with my friend Ravi Thambiayah. After the ceremony, people of the area came and thanked me personally, assuring me that the new wing would actually save lives, which otherwise would be lost. Their gratitude was overwhelming. Such was their appreciation that they perceived me as an emissary of the gods they worshiped.

Apparently, in that area, people struck down by sudden and serious illnesses, snake-bites, and those injured in accidents, normally had to travel to the Jaffna Hospital, 16 km away and because of the inadequacy of transport facilities, two hours’ travel time away at best. With the new wing, such patients would be attended to within minutes. I was told that over 40,000 people were dependent on that hospital.

It takes little to enrich the lives of simple people, to whom the fulfillment of a basic need is an unexpected luxury. The Kayts experience encouraged me to extend the Foundation’s assistance in the north, and the next result was the construction of a new, three-storey, 90-bed ward block for the Point Pedro General Hospital, opened for operations in February 2021.

The existing ward buildings were over a century old and dilapidated, severely limiting the services the hospital could offer to over 150,000 people who depended on it. This initiative was co-sponsored, by the Ian and Barbara Karan Foundation for Youth Development. In fact, it was declared open on my behalf by Ian and his wife Barbara, in association with K. Ravindran and Rajan Asirwatham, both Trustees of the MJF Charitable Foundation, and my son Dilhan.

Symbolically, Ian Karan, my dear friend of many years, had been born in the very same hospital in 1939! Orphaned at a young age, he received his early education at Hartley College, Point Pedro. Thereafter, he entered the London School of Economics. Subsequently securing employment in a shipping company in Hamburg, in 1975 he set up a shipping company of his own.

Selling off that business in 1996, he established a container leasing company which, by the time he sold it a few years later, had become one of the largest such enterprises in the world. His foundation supports youth development, particularly in Sri Lanka, through the nationwide promotion of charitable initiatives, institutions, and projects. Like me, Ian is also a man of simple origins and strong in faith, who later became a successful entrepreneur. He too subscribes to the principle of the entrepreneur’s responsibility towards social justice.

Ian, Barbara, and his children became great friends with my family as well. All my visits to Hamburg included meetings with Ian and his family; knowing my fondness for opera and other performing arts, Ian and Barbara would ensure that my visits to them were enlivened by attendance at the Hamburg State Opera, for which they would very kindly get tickets for me.

The world of children – the dark side

I am haunted by the recurrent image of little children born with serious disabilities, undergoing rehabilitation and therapy, at both the Moratuwa and Kalkudah Centres. As a man with an abiding faith in a merciful God, the afflictions of such children is to me an inexplicable tragedy. Dilhan has always warned me against showing outward demonstrations of my distress on my visits to them, as that could upset the parents. However, I am also deeply grateful to providence that I have been able to contribute in some measure to make such lives more comfortable.

Children with congenital impairments are a heart-break for the concerned families. Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism are conditions, which affected children and their families are compelled to live with till the end as there is no cure. Such children are marginalized and isolated, both by society and often by their own families. Both our Moratuwa and the East Centres provide for the care and training of disadvantaged children, as well as their family members, who need to be educated in the management and care of affected children. These programmes relieve parents from much of the pressure of caring for such children.

The stigmatization that such children are subject to by mainstream society, was brought home to me in a most unpleasant development soon after the commencement of the operations of the Ambagahawatte Centre, which specializes in the rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy and other developmental disorders.

Families in the immediate neighbourhood protested at its purpose and activities, as they considered the housing of such disadvantaged children so close to their homes as potential for bad luck for themselves! Such superstitious and insensitive attitudes prevalent in mainstream society strongly reinforce the need for special initiatives to assist the disabled and to empower their families as well.

These children are also trained, educated, and stimulated by well-trained and caring staff to create art and, in various other ways, such as dance and theatre, to express themselves. Our annual MJF Centre ‘Celebrating Differences’ event, has become an ideal platform for the self-expression of these children, under normal circumstances condemned to lives of loneliness and an absence of recognition.

The performances that these differently-abled children produce year after year, with such self-confidence despite impediments to speech, movement, and cognition, are inspirational and deeply moving. What’s on display is not just child theatre, but, also, the power of love and caring. I witness this event every year and each time I am moved to tears.

Nipuna, one such child who has been with the Moratuwa Centre for several years, has become a child artist and improved his interpersonal skills to such an extent that we were able to place him in charge of a little restaurant we opened. Despite the inherent disadvantages of Down syndrome, he has developed to a stage where he considers himself an entrepreneur. He has told me very confidently that he wants to be a chairman of a company.

The progress of our initiatives with disabled children are signposted by such small, hard-won victories, but which loom large in the lives of those so enabled. One of the greatest joys of my life is seeing the beautiful smiles of little children, reflecting their joy at the liberation from congenital impediments.

There are other heart-warming moments, such as on a visit to an orphanage that the Foundation supports, when a blind child grabs Dilhan’s hand, smells his palm, and says with a brilliant smile: “This must be Mr. Dilhan.” To me, a little episode like that justifies all the resources that Dilmah diverts to the Foundation.

My world view

In the unforgiving world of big business and corporate enterprise, amid the relentless and mercenary crusade to become better, bigger, and more profitable, it is very easy to lose sight of the very society which big business feeds on; a society which consists largely of small people, struggling daily to make ends meet. The slightest disruption to the equilibrium of the diverse forces which regulate that society, whether through natural calamity, man-made conflict, or ungovernable economic disorder, immediately affects small people; they are the very first casualties of any upheaval as, their condition makes them the most vulnerable of our society.

A business cannot engage in charity at the expense of profit but, by the same token, a business cannot ignore the inequalities and inequities of the world in which it operates. A business creates genuine and lasting shareholder value when, within the means of its operation, it addresses those issues in the external society.

`Fair Trade’ has become a catchy slogan and the labels which carry that mantra provide comfort to civic-minded customers, who believe that part of what they pay for the product will go back to the producer. In the business reality of my perception, the ‘Fair Trade’ of corporate jargon is little more than marketing strategy, leveraged to perpetuate the existing system of multinational exploitation. In that system, from what the consumer pays at the cashier’s counter, the supermarket, the packer, the distributor, the importer, and the broker each get their piece of the action. The producer and the farmer are left with the crumbs off the table.

The ‘Fair Trade’ slogan has been introduced to marketing-speak by the multinationals because, after decades of exploitation along the chain, they have been compelled to accept the fact their trade has been, essentially, always unfair! In the hands of most traders, ‘Fair Trade’ has become a tool to gain the sympathy and support of the consumer, without genuinely addressing the consequences of unfair trade.

Genuinely fair trade presupposes the empowerment of the producer, but in reality very little of the value goes back to the farmer. Trade becomes genuinely fair only when earnings surplus is deployed in the country of origin, outside the ambit of the business, in caring for and empowering the marginalized and the indigent.

The country which grows the product is the best location for ‘Fair Trade’. That is what Dilmah does. Every cup of Dilmah tea, wherever in the world it is drunk, brings a measure of happiness, comfort, and empowerment, to either an individual or a community in need back in the country where the Dilmah tea is grown.

Opening of 100 bed ward at Point Pedro; Ian, Dilhan, Rajan, Ravi & Barbara

The needs of the disadvantaged in our society are many. Governments, which are shackled by bureaucratic restrictions, can only do so much and because of the size of the problem, that is insufficient. I know that I am also making a small impact within the means enabled by my business. But my view is that if all entrepreneurs make whatever contribution possible, addressing genuine community inadequacies in a sustainable manner, the world will become a much better place for the disadvantaged and the marginalized. I stand by my view, that every business must have a greater purpose which lies beyond profit.

After I launched the Foundation and its work got going in an organized manner, Dilhan kept bringing me more and more projects for sponsorship. I agreed to help with whatever resources I can divert for the cause and, despite my initial misgivings regarding the sustainability of our philanthropy, somehow the means have always appeared. The Bible says that the charity that you do is a gift to God and God repays you in abundance. In this world there is no shortage of wealth, but there is a great inequity in its distribution. Those who possess the means must correct that imbalance and that correction can be achieved only by sharing.

The fruits of the success of Dilmah have been many. It has provided employment to thousands, both here and abroad; it has also enriched many. In the process, it has carried across the world the message of the value of Pure Ceylon Tea and established its image as a desirable product in over 100 countries. It has brought me fame, fortune, recognition, and accolades. However, in my mind, its most valuable outcome is the goodness that I, along with my family, have been able to create with the value created by Dilmah. That will be its most enduring legacy.

‘Business as a Matter of Human Service’ is a responsibility we all share and that which we must all contribute to. What I shared with 18 of my workers six decades ago has, through the efforts of the many people who accompanied me on my long journey, and with the grace of God, increased exponentially and today benefits thousands of less-fortunate individuals and their families. As my friend Leighton Smith of New Zealand has expressed so very simply in his book, ‘Leighton Smith, Beyond the Microphone: “Merrill is an admirable example of how what you put out comes back to you; in his case, in droves… “

We come into this world with nothing, we leave with nothing. The wealth that some of us acquire is owed to the efforts and cooperation of many others around us. Let us, therefore, share that wealth while we are still around, so that the goodwill and contentment created thereby may make our world a happier place for others too.

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Features

Coercive laws recipe for future misrule

Published

5 hours ago

2026/10/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

by Jehan Perera

The NPP government is going after powerful figures from the past and present who have engaged in corruption, fraud and criminal activity in a way that no previous government in Sri Lanka has done. Former ministers, politicians and senior state officials are among those facing investigations and legal proceedings. The government has placed before Parliament a document listing 50 cases involving corruption, fraud and other crimes. These include not only financial offences but also cases relating to the Easter Sunday attacks, the killings of Lasantha Wickrematunge and Wasim Thajudeen, the disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda and attacks on journalists Keith Noyahr and Upali Tennakoon.

The significance of this effort is that it can demonstrate that nobody is above the law, regardless of political connections or social standing, which will help restore public confidence in institutions that have long been distrusted. It could also recover public resources, improve the investment climate and strengthen the foundations for a more prosperous and just Sri Lanka. When criticised for focusing on the past and not the present, the government position is that these investigations were initiated under earlier governments, particularly between 2015 and 2019, and that it is now allowing investigators to proceed to deal with the backlog without political interference.

But there is an aspect of the government’s approach that is less justifiable. While pursuing past wrongdoing by powerful individuals, it is also advancing a triumvirate of draft laws that could give the state sweeping powers over citizens, organisations and dissent in the present and future. The draft Prevention of Terrorism legislation, the Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill and the NGO Registration and Supervision Bill raise serious questions about the over-centralisation of power. Each of these laws strengthens the powers of the state while weakening the rights and safeguards that protect people from their misuse and thus questions the basic rights of people in democracy where ‘the power of the people is vested in the government’. This is a recipe for future misrule rather than the rule of law. As the well-known saying goes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Proposed Laws

The real test of system change, for which the government obtained an overwhelming mandate, requires not only a government willing to hold others accountable, but one prepared to subject itself to the same principles of legality, transparency and restraint. The three proposed laws that are particularly important in this regard are the Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill, the Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill and the NGO Registration and Supervision Bill. Each of these draft laws has been presented as serving a legitimate purpose. Preventing terrorism, combating organised crime and ensuring that NGOs do not facilitate money laundering or terrorist financing are proper responsibilities of the state. Sri Lanka has international obligations in these areas, and no responsible government can disregard them. However, the existence of a legitimate objective does not justify every means adopted to achieve it.

The proposed Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill illustrates the problem. Although its definition of terrorism draws on a model developed by a former United Nations Special Rapporteur, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has warned that the definition of terrorism extends beyond the model and could bring legitimate political protest, trade union action and civil disobedience within the scope of counter-terrorism legislation. Its concerns also include prolonged detention, inadequate judicial oversight and restrictions on access to legal counsel. These are objections that go to the heart of the relationship between the citizen and the state. The government cannot credibly promise to protect democratic freedoms while creating powers that could be used to restrict them. It is necessary for the government to reassess the draft through transparent consultation and revise provisions that could criminalise legitimate dissent.

The Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill raises similar concerns. It is presented as giving effect to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, which Sri Lanka ratified in 2006. The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has argued that the convention does not require many of the bill’s provisions. The proposed law extends to a broad range of offences, permits detention orders lasting up to a year, makes confessions to police admissible for purposes of legal evidence, and introduces extensive surveillance powers. A law intended to dismantle criminal networks should not create a parallel system of exceptional powers that could be applied far beyond organised crime. Nor should safeguards developed through years of experience with abuses under the Prevention of Terrorism Act be weakened through legislation bearing a different name. The government should review whether or not existing laws could be used effectively to control these crimes or whether each exceptional power is necessary.

Civil Society

The proposed NGO Registration and Supervision Bill presents another test of the government’s intentions. The government may reasonably seek transparency in the finances of organisations receiving public or foreign funds, including measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. It seeks to justify its overreach on the grounds of meeting the internationally mandated requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for the Asia-Pacific region. But these objectives do not justify placing civil society and NGOs under excessive administrative control when even the FATF ranks them as low to medium risks. The draft bill would require registration and renewal, impose extensive obligations on organisations and empower authorities to suspend or deregister them on broadly framed grounds. It is important to redraft provisions that confer excessive discretion over registration, renewal, suspension and deregistration of NGOs.

Among the concerns raised by United Nations human rights special rapporteurs with regard to the draft NGO law are provisions requiring organisations to align with government policies and restrictions that could affect advocacy, dissent and freedom of association. The implications extend well beyond organisations that engage directly with the government. Community groups, human rights organisations, independent researchers and organisations working on reconciliation or accountability could find their activities constrained by uncertainty over how these provisions might be interpreted. Organisations that criticise government policies are not thereby working against the country. Their freedom to do so is part of what distinguishes a democracy from a system in which the government determines which opinions and activities are acceptable.

The government has generated considerable public goodwill through its pursuit of corruption and criminality. It should not assume that this goodwill gives it an unlimited mandate to strengthen the coercive powers of the state. The NPP knows from its own history that governments can treat dissent as a threat and use the machinery of the state against their opponents. There is still time to correct the drafts through transparent public consultation, narrow definitions of offences, meaningful judicial control over detention and surveillance, and effective remedies against arbitrary decisions. A government that pursues corruption while weakening safeguards against state abuse risks undermining its own achievements. Besides bringing to light the abuse of power by previous governments, the NPP government needs to build a system in which no future government can abuse power in the belief they can get away with it.

Features

Quality assurance without quality enhancement: The irony of university QA

Published

5 hours ago

2026/10/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

By Ramya Kumar

According to the Quality Assurance Council (QAC) of the University Grants Commission (UGC), quality assurance (QA) refers to “the means (i.e. the policies, attitudes, actions, procedures, etc.), by which an institution can guarantee with confidence and certainty, that the standards and quality of its educational provision are being maintained and enhanced”.

An expansive structure has been in place since 2005 to govern and implement QA processes within the state university system. The QAC is the focal point at the UGC that implements external reviews of state universities and institutes. Each university has its own Centre for Quality Assurance (CQA) tasked with performing QA in line with QAC directives. Faculties, in turn, have Internal Quality Assurance Cells (IQAC) performing their own QA; they are answerable to the CQA.

The big question is whether this all-encompassing top-down QA system, that in many ways undermines the internal dynamics of university governance, actually supports universities to enhance the quality of education. This article highlights some concerns.

Top-down check-box activities

The QAC conducts external reviews of universities and degree programmes. A review team appointed by the UGC (who may or may not have experience in the institution/programme in question) examines the self-evaluation report submitted by the said institution/programme. The team then conducts a site visit to verify the claims made in the university’s self-evaluation report, clarify issues identified during the desk review, and examine how QA procedures operate in practice. The team holds meetings with the university administration, members of the Council and Senate, Deans, Heads of Departments, academic and non-academic staff, students, and others. Following the visit, a draft report is submitted to the relevant institution/programme for comment before final publication. The reviewed institution/programme then prepares and publishes an action plan addressing the recommendations, with subsequent monitoring of progress.

There are some worthy QA initiatives under implementation, such as improving facilities for students with disabilities and strengthening mechanisms to address sexual- and gender-based violence. However, for the most part, QA activities have little to do with improving the quality of education. They are mostly preoccupied with monitoring faculty and department websites, digital transformation, student feedback, subject evaluation, course evaluation, peer evaluation, and, more recently, staff appraisal. These activities, which consume an inordinate amount of time—so precious at understaffed universities—have become check-box activities completed to generate evidence for the next review. Below is an excerpt of a conversation between two academics (1 and 2) that conveys how QA plays out at universities (reproduced with permission).

1: … .it’s like social media you know, like posting things on Facebook or twitter or Instagram. When people do a lot of social media, everything they do, they do thinking, “okay I’m going to post it in this way… this I have to put on my Instagram.” QA is a little like that… everything is considered in light of, “ah we can use this for the review, as evidence… for example very recently we were encouraged to have all the things that we do in our department in the faculty newsletter so then they can put in the review. Every little thing has to be noted down….

2: And with pictures and all…

1: At the very least it has to be written so that you have written evidence .. you can’t be doing something for the sake of doing something or because it is good for the department … and sometimes people tell me “oh yea that’s a good idea we can fit that under this x, y section of the review..”

2: Yea, and nobody really thinks about the actual outcome… whether it’s actually helping anyone..

1: I also find that a lot of the words that we used in different ways have now been co-opted to the QA discourse ..including quality.. I can’t actually say what I want as an “outcome”, for example, that the outcome of this workshop is that my students “think about” … then I am told “ah but no that’s not one of the Bloom’s taxonomy words, “think about”.…

2: And the worst part is these medical and agriculture people, these types of people go around spreading it like some kind of gospel!

1: Yea, this cookie cutter way of doing things, they think is the height of innovativeness or creativity, when actually it is so mundane … for me the most awful thing about it is like some fungus of mundanity has taken over through QA reviews.

2: yea, when you say QA, my mind closes off immediately and I stop listening…

Auditing everything but power

QA leaves out crucial aspects of university governance. For instance, there is no review or assessment of the “quality” of university administrations under Criterion 1 or the integrity of procedures governing the promotion of academic staff under Criterion 6 of the institutional reviews.

The majority in the Council—the university’s executive and governing body, which is responsible for selecting the Vice-Chancellor (VC)—are appointed in ad hoc fashion. Apart from the Ex-Officio members in the Council (VC, Deans, etc.), and the two members elected by the Senate, the remainder are appointed by the UGC with no formal consultation or vetting procedure. The VC appointment process described in UGC Circular No. 03/2023 exemplifies how an ostensibly technical process can become entangled in political sycophancy. The Registrar invites applications for the position of VC through advertisement. Applicants must submit a curriculum vitae, a statement of vision for the university and supporting documents. The University Council appoints a three-member Search Committee of senior academics to encourage “eminent persons” to apply, while the UGC appoints a former VC from another university to “observe” the selection process.

A Special Meeting of the University Council is convened. Candidates are interviewed and must make a presentation to the Council Members, followed by questions. Each Council member “gives marks” for seven prescribed criteria: strategic focus (20%), effective leadership (20%), holistic thinking/conceptual skills (10%), academic and research excellence (15%), personal integrity (10%), professional communication (10%) and managerial competence (15%). Marks are averaged, and the Council recommends three candidates to the UGC in rank order. The UGC-appointed observer separately submits a confidential report on the selection process.

This procedure is expected to guarantee quality, but does it? Applications are submitted to the Council Members, who have been appointed on questionable bases, and who are expected to review the applications and give scores, based on objective assessments. But, in reality, most Council Members are manipulated by VC candidates, who often have personal ties with them. The UGC-appointed observer usually has no genuine interest in the outcome. And there is no way for anyone to actually question the Council’s decision once it is made. Although the highest-ranked candidate may ultimately be appointed, the selection remains a political decision made by the President, who retains the discretion to appoint any one of the three.

External reviews also do not look into the promotions of academic staff, except to scrutinise whether there are policies and procedures in place to govern promotion. Academic staff may apply for promotion to Professor once they satisfy the prescribed eligibility requirements, which typically include the period of service, academic qualifications, research and publication achievements, teaching experience, and contributions to the university and wider community. Applications are evaluated against specified criteria, with research output and academic contributions assessed through documentary evidence and expert evaluation. Under the UGC’s scheme for Professors, two experts from outside the applicant’s institution assess specified aspects of research and knowledge dissemination. Again, beneath this technical process, which is externally evaluated, lies a problematic points-based scheme that can be manipulated and abused with impunity.

Rethinking university QA

Like the VC election process and the schemes of promotion for academic staff, QA reviews are open to manipulation. Before a review, there is a chaotic rush to complete evidence gathering and reporting. Academics leave all other work aside, including at times their teaching, to focus on completing documentation and preparing reports. The standardised criteria in the review manuals and scoring sheets often do not reflect differences in disciplines and institutional contexts. But this does not really matter because any serious problems experienced by institutions or programmes are hastily brushed under the carpet to conceal any evidence that could taint the review. The goal is to obtain an A or at least a B grade at whatever cost.

QA may result in positive change if it moves beyond top-down check-box activities towards internally designed and owned processes encompassing all aspects of university governance, led by departments and faculties, and supported by adequate resources. The current QA system needs to be dismantled and replaced by procedures that are accountable, not to the UGC, but to our students and the communities we serve.

(Ramya Kumar is attached to the Department of Community and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna)

. Kuppi is a politics and pedagogy happening on the margins of the lecture hall that parodies, subverts, and simultaneously reaffirms social hierarchies.

Features

Down Memory Lane — the Grand 20th Edition!

Published

5 hours ago

2026/10/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

Down Memory Lane: Ready to sing again

Yes, Down Memory Lane, the beloved Sing-Along concert series that first struck a chord, way back in 1997, returns for its landmark 20th edition this Saturday, 17th October, at the beautiful Bolgoda Grand Resort, Moratuwa town centre.

Having celebrated its glorious 25th anniversary with the show in 2023, this milestone 20th concert promises to be even more special.

The organisers, the ever-popular Moratuwa Arts Forum, are pulling out all the stops to present yet another unforgettable evening, brimming with camaraderie, fellowship, and pure nostalgia.

Get ready for two-and-a-half hours of non-stop singing as veteran vocalists, from the Moratuwa Arts Forum, will take the stage to lead and inspire the happy audience to sing, sing and sing to their hearts’ content.

The repertoire? Absolutely magical, according to the organisers.

Veteran Arun Dias Bandaranaike: Will handle the evening’s proceedings / Priya Peiris: Event Conceptor

Around 40 golden oldies — from timeless English vintage evergreens and hits from the 50s to the 90s, to toe-tapping calypsos, soulful American plantation melodies, rousing cowboy and Dixieland favourites, aa well as cherished Sinhala standards. All to be sung with much gusto!

This year’s dedicated organising committee comprises Brian Coorey (Chairman), Priya Peiris (Event Conceptor), Hiran Fernando, Suranga Fernando, Viranjan Perera, Hemka Fernando and Neelesh Silva. Guidance and support comes from Moratuwa Arts Forum President Sarana Guneratne and Secretary Chandani Silva.

Adding his signature charm to the evening, as Master of Ceremonies, will be the veteran Arun Dias Bandaranaike.

Don’t miss this landmark celebration of music and memories!

For further details, contact Hiran Fernando on 0772636446 or WhatsApp 0783636446.