By Saman Indrajith

The SJB yesterday alleged that the government had kept the university academics in the dark when preparing the draft of the General Sir John Kotelawala National Defence University Bill.

Addressing the media at the Opposition Leader’s office in Colombo, Chief Opposition Whip and SJB Kandy District MP Lakshman Kiriella said: “There are around 4,000 university teachers in this country. None of them has been consulted by the government when drafting the KDU Bill. This is outrageous. The university teachers should have been consulted first. This bill has been prepared by the Defence Ministry officials. None of the academics have been informed or asked for their opinion in this matter.”

Kiriella said that if the proposed draft bill was passed the KDU would become a fee-levying university and it could open its branches countrywide. That would be the privatisation of university education. It would create a network of private universities countrywide.

“At present, the state universities are under the University Grants Commission. The proposed bill is planning to set up a similar mechanism to manage private universities.”

MP Kiriella said that apart from the privatisation, the higher education sector faced the threat of militarisation. “We see nothing wrong with the KDU training and providing education for the military personnel. In other countries, there are similar colleges which offer courses for the defence forces. They could train and educate individuals to become military doctors, lawyers and administrators. But the institute proposed by the controversial bill is different. It offers 15 to 20 courses which would pass out graduates for the jobs in the civil sector. That is totally against the original concept of the KDU. The UGC the decision makers are PhD holders. The KDU draft bill proposes a management committee for the same purpose. More than 80 percent of that committee are military personnel. Our question is whether the army officers have intellectual or academic qualifications to run universities”.

Asked to comment on remarks made by government ministers that the draft bill was a product of the previous government, the chief opposition whip said, “That is a lie. As far as I know the defence ministry was in the process of making such a draft but we did not bring it to Parliament.”

Asked whether the SJB was against amending the Universities Act of 1997 to suit the present-day needs, MP Kiriella said: :We are not against amending the existing universities act. We know that some of the provisions are obsolete and out of date. But when amending an act of parliament a government cannot do it according to its whims and fancies. It has to be discussed with all stakeholders. During our government we set up a parliament oversight committee system to create forums for such discussions. This government has done away with them. When drafting a bill affecting the universities, the government should discuss it with at least the university teachers. The process of drafting the KDU bill was wrong. It was made by the Defence Ministry and then sent to the Cabinet, which had it presented to Parliament. It should have been discussed with university teachers and their opinions should have been considered on the matter.”

Former Chairman of the Weligama Urban Council Rehan Jayawickrama also addressed the press.