The current government has amended the University Act No. 16 of 1978 to politicize the university system, said former Minister Nudaya Gammanpila, leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya.
He said that this action, which is being taken without any request from the university community, will disrupt the entire university administration and that the government is trying to disrupt the university system.
Addressing a media conference held at the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya party headquarters, he said this.
”A draft bill amending the University Act No. 16 of 1978 has been published in the Gazette. The stated purpose of this bill is to change the system for appointing deans and heads of departments. However, the current system is wrong and there was no request from the university community to change it.
The underlying purpose of this bill is to give the positions of deans and heads of departments to the philanthropists and to philanthropize the university system. The university community is of the opinion that this bill should be amended since anyone who worked for the philanthropists cannot become a dean or head of department under the current bill.
A large number of university professors worked for the philanthropists in the last presidential election. Some of these people came to parliament. Another group became directors, director generals, and chairmen. Meanwhile, a large number of people who did not get any positions are disappointed. The government is afraid that these people will speak out regarding education reforms. That is why the University Act is being amended and these people are being silenced by giving positions to them.
The appointment of deans and heads of departments in all universities has been temporarily stopped until this bill is passed. As a result, the university administration has been completely paralyzed. The issues that will arise if the bill is passed are more than the issues that will arise until the bill is passed. The Governing Council will be empowered to remove a Dean at any time during his term. The majority of the Governing Council is appointed by the Minister. The Dean is appointed by the Faculty Council. It includes all teachers from senior professors to lecturers. If the person who becomes the Dean with the consent of the majority of lecturers is not a person who goes to the compass, the Governing Council, which has become political, will be given the opportunity to remove him at any time. Also, until now, only a department head could become the Dean. But with this bill, even a lecturer can directly become the Dean.
No government has tried to politicize universities in this way. The bills were prepared with the idea that universities should be governed independently without the influence of the government. Unfortunately, the university community may not yet know that such a draft bill has been published in the Gazette. Otherwise, the first to oppose this bill will be Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, who led the fight to allocate 6% to education. Therefore, we hope that the attention of the university community will be drawn to this bill, which paves the way for the politicization and depoliticization of universities.