Kelaniya: Act fast, avert crisis

Editorial-September 16, 2013

Saturday’s goon attack on a student hostel of the Kelaniya University must be condemned by one and all. A gang armed with iron rods stormed the dormitory, located away from the campus, and damaged a section thereof and some vehicles parked in front of it before fleeing the scene.

Thankfully, there was no bloodshed as the male undergrads did not react. But, they lost no time in forcibly occupying the sports pavilion of their university, as first thing the following day, vowing not to leave it until steps were taken to ensure their safety.

Four villagers surrendered to the police yesterday claiming that they had carried out the attack because the undergrads made a lot of noise at night much to their consternation. But, students insist that the attack was politically motivated and the surrender of suspects is only a red herring.

All signs are that there will be a long-drawn-out dispute which might even lead to a crippling protest followed by a temporary closure of the university. Universities have, over the years, become as dangerous as Syria, Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan, so to speak. Undergraduates, more often than not, come under attack both from within and from without. Hardly a week passes without a violent incident reported from a university. Students set upon one another at the drop of a hat or they are assaulted by thugs outside campuses for political reasons. These clashes and the attendant closures have stood the investors in private universities in good stead in that most parents with wherewithal admit their children to fee-levying higher education institutions either here or overseas.

Sri Lankan students, on average, waste at least three years between kindergarten enrolment and university graduation. Thanks to strikes, boycotts, clashes etc which characterise universities they lose another year or so, having already wasted one whole year waiting for university admission after passing the GCE A/L. Those who enter foreign universities graduate much earlier than their local counterparts. Hence, the pressing need for ensuring that universities function free from disruptions lest, at this rate, we should set a world record by producing the oldest graduates in the world.

There are ultra radical elements in the garb of undergraduates, hell bent on disrupting universities to further their political interests, as is common knowledge. They have plunged the seats of higher learning into blood baths on several occasions during the last few decades and are obviously looking for the slightest opportunity to do so again. They do exactly what they accuse government politicians of—destroying free education on the pretext of protecting it. They need clashes and disruptions and the resultant unrest to sustain their political projects which have run out of steam.

The identities of university troublemakers are only too well known and they must be dealt with strictly according to the law for the sake of the majority of peaceful students desirous of finishing their studies without wasting the best years of their lives in universities doing undergraduate studies. However, no extrajudicial methods must be used for that purpose, and the goons must not be allowed to attack students.

The protesting Kelaniya undergrads have a legitimate grievance. Their hostel has been attacked and they fear for their safety. The solution is for the police to provide them with security and conduct investigations to establish the real motive for the attack and find out whether there were others involved in the incident.

The Kelaniya University authorities and the Higher Education Ministry panjandrums ought not to let the grass grow under their feet. They had better step in immediately to ensure students’ safety without waiting till the on-going protests spin out of control to close the university indefinitely.