PM suggests liberal atmosphere in universities to prevent ragging

Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says there should be a liberal atmosphere in the universities to stop ragging and gender-based violence in the higher education institutions.

“As long as there is an absence of liberal atmosphere it is hard to stop ragging. Putting an end to ragging requires a liberal approach,” Wickremesinghe said.

Wickremesinghe was addressing Sri Lanka’s first-ever high level consultative dialogue on ‘Preventing Ragging and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Universities’.

The high-level dialogue was organised by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in collaboration with the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) to give universities the requisite policy direction and backing to engage comprehensively with the twin menaces on campuses.

Expressing his views, Wickremesinghe said that associations of mainstream political parties including the UNP, the UPFA, the SLFP, the TNA, and the JVP should function in state universities by way of a solution to prevent ragging and SGBV in Sri Lankan universities.

“Why can’t the universities like in our time have associations for the UNP, for the UPFA, the SLFP, the JVP, the TNA or for anyone else?” the PM asked.

Pointing out that most of the academics as well as students at universities supported and voted for one of the main candidates at the presidential election, the PM said however, they cannot have the parties functioning within the universities.

“Most of you at the last presidential election supported one of the two major candidates- either President Maithripala Sirisena or former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. The vast majority of students also voted for one of them. But, ironically you can’t have these candidates or their parties functioning in the universities.”

Speaking further, the Prime Minister said that it will be possible to suppress ragging and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) through the introduction of new regulations for University administrative activities and by granting room for the Rule of the Law. He said all students should have the freedom to study but stressed the importance of adhering to the Rule of the Law.

Noting that the present number of student counsellors was not adequate to resolve the issues of students, the PM said they are ready to create a new post of an Assistant Vice Chancellor for student affairs to examine the issues of students.

The PM also stressed that university structure should be changed in parallel with the modern needs of students. “We should ensure that Sri Lanka has a proper university structure,” he said. He also revealed plans to open a University on Police and criminal justice.

The dialogue is one of a series of consultations and training workshops scheduled for the next ten days by the UGC, and will include stakeholders from all 15 universities.

During the two-day workshop, several senior administrators and academic leaders from India, the ACU as well as Sri Lanka will share their experiences as regards ragging and SGBV with university leaders. (Colombopage)