Features
Revisiting the role of education in shaping shared futures
BY RANDIMA ATTYGALLE
‘The primary task of a society is to find a real teacher – one who performs his duty with perfection and dedication and is a perfect moral teacher for the society’– Rabindranath Tagore
The Faculty of Education at the University of Colombo which is the pioneering Faculty of Education in Sri Lanka marks 50 years on January 1, 2025.
In an interview with the Sunday Island, Emeritus Professor Marie Perera, one-time Dean of the Faculty of Education and the former Director, National Education Research and Evaluation Centre (NEREC),
elucidates on its evolution and contribution to the teaching landscape of the country.
Following are the excerpts:
Q: In what sense does the Faculty of Education at the University of Colombo mark a milestone in the state university setting of Sri Lanka?
A: When the Faculty was established in 1975, it was the only Faculty of Education in the university system in Sri Lanka. In 2003, the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL), established its Faculty of Education. However, aligned with the mission of the OUSL, it was to conduct courses in the Distance Mode. University of Peradeniya and University of Jaffna recommenced their Departments of Education in 1978 and 1990. They remain as departments of education in their respective faculties of Arts. Therefore, the Faculty of Education at University of Colombo marks a milestone in the state university setting when it celebrates 50 years of service as the only Faculty of Education in the ‘conventional university system’ in Sri Lanka.
Q: Who are the stalwarts behind the journey of its evolution?
A: Many of our pioneer educators paved the way for the Faculty of Education to be the center of excellence that it is today. Sadly, many of them are no more with us. However, I am very happy to remember Dr. Elsie Kotelawala who was the pioneering Head of the then Department of Education. With only five permanent staff members to assist her, the feat she achieved was exceptional. Dr. Kotelawala is still a source of inspiration and a ‘living library’ to us.
Former Head of the Department, Prof. C. Kariyawasam who was the longest serving Head of the Department of Humanities Education, former Deans and professors Dr. Raja Gunewardena and Dr. W.G. Kularatne in the Faculty are still resources to us. I acknowledge the services of the founder Dean of the Faculty, the late Emeritus Professor Ranjith Ruberu and all the past Deans, all the academics and non-academics of the Faculty during the last 50 years. I must acknowledge with gratitude the contribution of the late Emeritus Professor Swarna Wijethunga who was the founder Director of NEREC and was also a former Dean. If not for her untiring efforts, we would not be able to boast of a National Education Research Center in the Faculty today.
Q: What are the study programs the Faculty offers today?
A: Among the two main programs is the Four-Year Bachelor of Education Honours Degree for undergraduates. This is a combined Arts/Education Degree. From the academic year 23/24, the Faculty is offering an innovative B.Ed. in Primary Education to a direct intake of undergraduates selected by the UGC based on the A/L cut off marks. This program was initiated at the request of the Ministry of Education.
The second main program is the Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) to provide professional development for untrained graduate teachers in the system. In addition to the general PGDE there are specialization courses such as PGDE /TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) Post Graduate Diploma in Drama and Theater and a Post Graduate Diploma in Counseling.
In addition, to encourage teachers to Education Research, there are Master of Education, Master of Philosophy and PhD programs. A Master of Education course is also offered to those learning Chinese.
Research Symposium 2024 of the Faculty of Education
Q: How has the Faculty of Education justified its vision of being a ‘center of excellence in scholarship, teaching and research in education, committed to serve humanity’ in its journey todate?
A: Currently there are 419 students following the B.Ed. program. In addition, 1,200 students are following the M.Ed. program and 74 MPhil/ PhD programs. There is a great demand for both Postgraduate Diploma as well as Master’s Programs offered by the Faculty and candidates for these courses are chosen through a selection test. Hence, the demand exceeds the available places. The courses offered by the Faculty, secured an A-Grade at the Institutional Review, conducted in June-July 2023 by the Quality Assurance Council of the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka.
The only Education Research Center in Sri Lanka which is The National Education Research and Evaluation Centre (NEREC,) is also in the Faculty of Education. NEREC had been selected since its inception, to conduct research pertaining to students’ learning outcomes which are funded by the World Bank. Faculty staff and students are involved in conducting these studies.
Q: To what extent has the Faculty bench marked itself with global trends in education so far and what are the areas where it still needs to improve to meet current global trends?
A: Faculty of Education was a part of a project – Contessa, led by the University of Graz, Austria, aimed to further the development of teaching skills in carefully selected partnerships with institutions of higher education. It was held from November 2018 -2022. This was an Erasmus+ project funded by the European Commission.
In 2012, the Faculty of Education won a Quality Innovation Grant funded by the World Bank to improve doctoral studies. Seven students were selected and all of them completed innovation research and presented the findings overseas and also published papers in peer reviewed journals.
For five years, from 2011, there was staff and student exchange programs with Umea University in Sweden.
At the Annual International Research symposium, many foreign scholars present their papers. In terms of cross-disciplinary studies and research as well as international collaborations, the Faculty still needs to do a lot of work to leverage itself with global trends in education.
Q: Although the Department of Education is responsible for producing teachers with credentials, we do not see a significant collaboration between the department and schools. What measures do you propose to give this relationship more muscle?
A: In many of the universities in developed countries, university teachers are given a period of time to teach in schools to strike a balance between theory and practice which may help to enhance quality and professionalism. However, the experience of the Sri Lankan faculties and departments of education is different. The interaction between universities and schools is increasingly becoming minimal. The main reason for this lack of collaboration is, while the universities fall under the purview of the Ministry of Higher Education, the schools come under the Ministry of Education.
Even though teachers are sent by the Ministry of Education on full-time study leave to complete their Postgraduate Diploma in Education, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find placements in schools for their compulsory teaching practicum. This was not the situation in the past. This could be because there are other teacher training institutes such as National Colleges of Education and the Teacher Training Colleges which come under the direct purview of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Education has to priorities these institutes when providing placements for practicum.
In the past, there were practicing schools linked to teacher training institutes. For example, the practicing school for the Teachers’ College Maharagama was the present Maharagama Central College. In some countries, there is a pre-assigned school attached to the faculty or school of education in a university. For example, Vorarlberg University of Education, Austria has a school within the university premises. The school and the university work in collaboration and share their resources; the classrooms are used as lecture rooms in the afternoon and the lecturers and teacher trainees walk in and out of the school for teaching and research purposes. It is worthwhile to explore the possibility of re implementing the practicing school concept.
Q: What are your thoughts about graduates being directly placed in schools for teaching with no prior training?
A: I would answer that question with a cliché, ‘to teach John Latin, you need to know Latin as well as John,’ and I would add how to teach John Latin. When graduates are directly placed in schools without prior training they may know ‘Latin’ which is the subject knowledge, but they will not be able to understand the students nor how to teach them. This is the reason that in developed countries, without a ‘license’ to teach, – which is the professional training, no teacher is allowed to teach in a school.
In Sri Lanka, every government that comes to power, especially before an election gives teaching appointments to unemployed graduates without a systematic professional development program. According to the School census 2023, as many as 37.32% of graduate teachers in government schools are untrained. However, as large number of graduates were recruited to the teaching cadre just prior to the Presidential Election, this number will be more by the next school census. This is a grave situation that needs urgent attention.
Q: In the good old days, there were fully-fledged teachers who were above their subject expertise- equipped with communication skills, social skills etc. which is sadly eroding today. What is the responsibility of relevant state agencies such as universities, training colleges etc. to fill this vacuum and empower teachers who could be good counselors, administrators etc.
A: Education has been the medium through which the noblest ideas of mankind have been transmitted through civilizations. Aristotle has put this succinctly when he remarked that human excellence was his aim in all his efforts in education. Erosion of values is a worldwide phenomenon and the academia in Sri Lanka too is affected by it.
In the Faculty, in all its curricular platforms, development of soft skills is embedded and students are evaluated during teaching practicum by two internal examiners. However, how much of these skills have been internalized can be seen only when they go back to the workplace. Their behaviour in the work place will be influenced by their commitment and love for humanity and the role models available in that sub-culture.
Q: A national policy for education still remains an unrealized dream for Sri Lanka. What are your thoughts?
A: The absence of a strong, consistent and clear-cut national policy on education which is consistently implemented irrespective of the change of political regimes, has been a critical issue that needs careful attention. Since the 1940s, there had been policy proposals but they have never become a long-term national policy. The absence of such a national regulatory framework has caused serious repercussions. Whenever a new government comes in to power, ongoing education reforms are abandoned without a critical review if they are not in line with the new government’s political manifesto. This results in a waste of resources as well.
Q: The skills-based formative years of learning is virtually non-existent in our setting. As an educator what are your thoughts on this matter?
A: We need to change the exam-oriented teaching and make students producers of knowledge rather than consumers of knowledge. Education and learning systems are at a critical juncture. The climate crisis, the pervasive rise of Artificial Intelligence, growing inequality and societal divisions compel us to rethink the role of education in shaping shared futures.
We face an existential choice between continuing an unsustainable path or radically changing course. There is an urgency to shape alternatives and re-imagine possible futures. Education is crucial to this change of course. It has great potential to help shape more just, inclusive and sustainable futures by re-balancing our relationships with each other, the living planet and technology. Yet, to do so, education itself must be transformed.
Q: What are the most urgent reforms you would like to lobby to address Sri Lanka’s outmoded education system, especially in terms of producing future-ready professionals who can meet the current job demands?
A: Teaching methodologies must be radically changed for the newly emerging times of flux as most education systems now in existence were established for other times and purposes with the ‘one size fit for all’ model intended to produce learners who store inert knowledge in a passive manner.
It is also important to produce globally competent, professional socialized teachers in an interdependent globalized world. Professional socialization is the process of learning the values, attitudes, skills and knowledge that are part of a profession. In this context, the present need is for teachers who will be knowledge-producers rather than mere knowledge-consumers.
Teachers must be equipped with the minimum competencies such as the 7Cs of Conceptualization, Communication, Commitment, Collaboration, Compassion, Critical thinking, and Creativity as well as digital dexterity.
According to the great guru Rabindranath Tagore, “the primary task of a society is to find a real teacher – one who performs his duty with perfection and dedication and is a perfect moral teacher for the society.” This is rather a tall order but the Faculty of Education has to strive towards this goal.
Q: Finally, as the Faculty Education marks its 50 years, what are its future plans to take it to the next level and become a stronger hub of academic excellence?
A: Throughout the history of the Faculty, the greatest challenge had been the inadequate physical and human resources. The problem of space was alleviated to a certain extent when the Faculty was granted a four-storied multi-functional building in 2011.
However, the challenge of human resources still continues with 53 approved cadre out of which 23 are vacant. The collaboration between the Ministry of Education and the Faculty is also a major challenge. Laboratories are where new knowledge is created in science and technology fields. Similarly, classrooms are the laboratories for education faculties.
In order to take the Faculty of Education to the next level and make it a stronger hub of excellence, my suggestion is to make it a University of Education. This concept is totally different to the proposal of the previous Government to form a University of Education amalgamating the National Colleges of Education under the Ministry of Education. I am proposing a University of Education in the lines of Vorarlberg University of Education, Austria which will pave way for academic excellence, innovative cross disciplinary research, and contribute to Policy and Practice for the betterment of society.
Tales of Mystery and Suspense 3
The murder, in a private dining room in the house, is of a financier with whom the government was negotiating a loan. When this seemed difficult the Minister of Home Affairs agreed to lead discussions, since he had known Mr Oissel the financier when they were young. Hence the private dinner, but when the Minister stepped out for a vote, Oissel was shot just as the Division Bell rang.
The Brahms and Simon detective novels, the first of which I wrote about last week, were amongst several books by the pair that Robert Scoble gave me when I was in Australia towards the end of last year. Amongst them was another thriller of a very different sort, though that too was written and set between the wars.
Called The Division Bell Mystery, it was set in the House of Commons, the first such book I believe, and was by Ellen Wilkinson, a Labour MP who became Minister of Education in Attlee’s government after the war, having served previously as Parliamentary Private Secretary to several ministers. Her hero Robert West is also a PPS, but a conservative, and his Minister, of Home Affairs, is an old style aristocrat, not much loved by the less orthodox Prime Minister, who nevertheless needs his support on many occasions.
The murder, in a private dining room in the house, is of a financier with whom the government was negotiating a loan. When this seemed difficult the Minister of Home Affairs agreed to lead discussions, since he had known Mr Oissel the financier when they were young. Hence the private dinner, but when the Minister stepped out for a vote, Oissel was shot just as the Division Bell rang.
West was just outside the door when the shot was heard, and when he opened it saw only the dead body with a revolver beside it. The assumption that this was suicide was however challenged by Oissel’s grand-daughter Annette, who was his heir, on the grounds that he would never have killed himself. But her view was given greater credence by the Inspector put in charge of the case who said there were no burn marks on the body which would have been the case had Oissel fired the pistol himself.
Matters are complicated by the fact that Oissel’s flat had been burgled while he was at dinner, and Jenks the policeman allocated to him, who had served the Home Secretary and seemed more acceptable to Oissel than someone from the Security Service, had been killed. Matters get even more complicated when Annette says her grand-father’s notebook in which he wrote his secrets in cipher was missing.
That was found in Jenks’ pocket, and then a photographer came to West to say he had been asked by Jenks to photograph this. More worryingly for West, he finds in the Home Secretary’s drawer a few pages from the notebook with what appears to be an interpretation of the cipher.
Ellen
Overwhelmed by all this he confides in a recently created peer who knows all about the business world, who insists that they leave the house party at which they had met over dinner and discuss the matter with the Prime Minister who promptly summons the Home Secretary.
But the Home Secretary had gone to Scotland to launch a ship over the weekend, so the meeting could take place only on the morning of the Monday, when difficult questions were expected on the adjournment motion. He admits at the meeting that he had got Jenks to take the notebook, and also that he knew the code since it had been created by him and Oissel when they were young.
He thought he should resign, and even contemplated suicide, but the Prime Minister told him that that would be even worse for the government, and that he should go home to bed. The Prime Minister said that he himself would handle the question, which he did with aplomb, insisting that confidentiality was needed until the inquest. What had happened would be made clear then, he declared, leaving West and Inspector Blackit and Lord Dalbeattie what seemed the impossible task of solving the murder.
Dalbeattie had suggested that West ask a female Labour MP who was very fond of him to get what information she could from the staff. That there was some involvement there had become clear when West, going back late one night to collect a briefcase he had left in a dining room, found someone lurking in the dark in the corridor outside the private rooms. Room J, where the murder had happened, was meant to be guarded throughout by a policeman, but he had left the room having felt dizzy, and it seemed that his coffee had been drugged. West’s sudden appearance however had prevented anyone else getting into the room.
Dalbeattie decides to recreate the scene of the murder and has a dinner party in Room J on the Tuesday night, inviting West and Annette and the society hostess at whose house he had met, and also Patrick Kinnaird, an MP who was engaged to Annette, as well as the Permanent Secretary to the Home Ministry.
After coffee Inspector Blackit comes in with Grace, the Labour MP who had got the confidence of the staff, and a journalist who had also been helpful, and just as they say they think they are on the track the division bell rings. Grace jumps up and tells the Inspector that that provides the solution and they get a ladder, and sure enough find the revolver in the space where the bell is. Directed at the place where Oissel had sat, it had been primed to go off with the ringing of the bell. The waiter who had helped to set things up made clear who the murderer had been.
The reason for the murder and the confused motives of all those involved made for a fascinatingly intricate mix. But also impressive in the book were the descriptions of the isolation possible in the crowded premises of the house, the forceful characterization of the members – Grace based on the writer, the society hostess based on Nancy Astor, the first female MP – and the laid back nature of senior politicians which West realized had to change in the brave new world of high finance.
The current outbreak of anti-immigrant protests in Durban, South Africa is bound to have taken many a subscriber to value-based politics or political idealism quite by surprise. After all, this is evidence that despite the historic accomplishments of nation-builders of the stature of the late President Nelson Mandela it cannot be taken for granted that identity politics, including racism in its worst forms, is no more in South Africa.
At the time of this writing details are scarce on the substantive root causes of the protests but it could very well be that economic grievances, particularly on the part of the majority community in South Africa, are contributing considerably to the disaffection. Shrinking employment and material prospects are likely to figure majorly among the factors igniting the unrest.
Fortunately, the local authorities in Durban are losing no time in calling for peaceful co-existence among the relevant communities and are pointing to the vital importance of stepping-up national integration processes. Apparently, immigrants in sizable numbers from neighbouring countries are present in Durban. However, international TV footage of the protests quoted some local authorities as saying that the majority of the immigrants in some centres that housed them were not illegal migrants and had the documents that entitle them to be in Durban.
In the Durban protests the world has fresh proof of the socially divisive consequences of the gathering globe-wide economic disaffection, touched off particularly by the continuing crisis in West Asia. Going ahead, the world would need to brace for increasing identity-based unrest of the kind it is just witnessing in South Africa.
Considering that the material lot of ordinary people everywhere could only aggravate progressively, with the US and Iran showing no signs of negotiating an end to their confrontation any time soon, it will be left to the more democratic and progressive sections of the world community to initiate positive measures collectively to bring a measure of relief to the discontented.
The swiftness with which such relief will be provided would depend crucially on the importance those sections taking up these undertakings attach to value-based politics as opposed to Realpolitik of power politics.
Going by these yardsticks, Italy could be considered to be moving in the right direction. Recently Italy came to the fore in initiating the collective named, ‘Rome Coalition for Food Security and Access to Fertilizer’, which has as one of its aims the swift provision of fertilizer to economically weak African countries.
In a recent statement Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, said that a principal aim of the project was to ensure that the farmers of Africa gained easy access to fertilizer, considering that food security is a growing concern among some of Africa’s economically vulnerable countries.
The statement went on to mention that some 30 countries hailing from the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, the Balkans as well as the FAO had been invited to join the coalition. The venture is far-seeing in that food security is main among the reasons for social discontent which in turn could degenerate into endemic political turmoil and bloodshed. Separatist violence and geographical fragmentation of countries wouldn’t be too far behind these developments, as Africa itself has often proved.
It is hoped that more G7 countries would take the cue from Italy and do what they could to ease the hardships of economically distressed countries, particularly of the global South. In these efforts they would need to break rank with the US, which is today brutally indifferent to the consequences of its policy of making ‘America First’, come what may.
Going by current developments, the Trump administration seems to be blithely oblivious to the wider, deleterious effects of its policy course in West Asia. Besides rendering Iran militarily and otherwise impotent nothing else seems to matter to Washington, as regards West Asia. This is policy short-sightedness of an extreme kind. After all, right now West Asia could be said to be sitting on the proverbial powder keg.
On the other hand, Iran is not giving the world the impression that it is doing anything constructive to get out of the policy straitjacket that it wove for itself decades ago. Rather than enter into a policy of ‘live and let live’ in relation to Israel in particular and initiate a process of reconciliation with the latter, it has chosen to operate within policy parameters that continue to damn Israel. This has put Israel always on the ‘defensive’ so to speak and prevented the opening up of space for meaningful dialogue.
That said, Israel is obliged to explore the possibilities of entering into a negotiatory process with the Arab-Islamic world that could lead to a de-escalation of tensions and bloodshed. It cannot continue to look at its neighbours through lenses that distort them as archetypal enemies who should be ‘wiped off completely from the face of the earth.’
In other words, the need is urgent for Realpolitik to give way to value-based politicks. Italy is beginning to prove that the latter approach could be pursued with some success. May be the EU and the UK could throw their weight behind these initiatives as well and establish that international politics could be refashioned on the basis of humane, civilized norms. The UN would need to be fully supportive of these moves and prove an organizational nucleus of the operations that follow.
In fact the time is ripe for people of conscience to collectively stand up on the side of peace and say ‘No’ to war and violence. Organizations such as the ICRC, the WHO and Medicines Sans Frontiers have already taken up this call. Referring to the widespread destruction of health facilities and their dehumanizing results these organizations have said, among other things, that ‘This is not a failure of the law. It is a failure of political will.’
True, ‘failure of political will’ among those powers that matter accounts for the runaway, uncontrollable nature of war and destruction in contemporary times, but more fundamentally it is a failure of the human conscience. It could very well be that the phenomenal levels to which violence and war have been unleashed today have had the effect of deadening consciences. This is a matter for urgent study and wide discussion.
I would describe Indunil Kaushalya Dissanayaka as innovative and creative, and she operates under the name of Cuteefly.
Indunil always comes up with something novel to celebrate special occasions, and she does it with candles … and that’s her profession.
She was in the spotlight when she created a happening scene, with candles, for Christmas, Sinhala and Tamil New Year, and Valentine’s Day.
As lanterns light up Sri Lanka for Vesak, the Colombo-based candle maker is quietly turning wax and wick into little pieces of the festival.
Candles reflecting Vesak themes
Her candles reflect Vesak themes – light, peace, remembrance, giving, etc., to enable you to fill your Vesak celebration with devotion and beauty.
Among her Vesak creations is a lotus-shaped soy candle, scented with sandalwood, lavender, etc., meant to burn during this Vesak Poya Day.
Indunil Kaushalya Dissanayaka: Customers
praise her for her creativity
These handcrafted Vesak candles are perfect for offering at the temple, she says.
What makes her creations so novel is that they come in different shapes, scents, themes, and all are handmade.
What’s more, her customers have heaped praise on her for her creativity.
According to Indunil, her creations are perfect as a thoughtful gift … to bring beauty, unity, and light into every moment.
Says Indunil: “Our beautifully handcrafted Unity candles are designed with premium detail and love, making them perfect for celebrations, gifts, and meaningful occasions.”
Cuteefly, says Indunil, is available online.
Readers could contact Indunil on 0778506066 for more details.
He Facebook Page is: Cuteefly.
Handmade with love
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