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| Thursday, 10 April 2003 |
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Letters | |
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Please forward your letters to editor@dailynews.lk in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments.
Do we need longer school holidays ? Everybody is complaining about the number of holidays for public servants in Sri Lanka mainly because of their low efficiency. But holidays alone are not the deciding factor if we compare other countries. There are certain other factors that are contributory to the state of public service in Sri Lanka. At one time, say 40 years ago, a public servant in Colombo was able to purchase a small plot in Colombo in his salary but is this possible now? The land prices skyrocketed and the rentals are no better but the salary of the public servants have not been increased in the same ratio. The present day public servant has nothing but grumble and get his wants satisfied by beg, borrow or steal. So who is worried about efficiency in public service - only the top executives who have access to everything what they need, both financially and materially. But when we are apprehensive or nervous about something we often fail to remember the most obvious ones. Has anyone thought about the number of holidays a child has for a year? We are used to conveniently forget the matter as the children need enjoyment and fun and need time to celebrate occasions during the holidays? But what about the teachers? They are also availing this school holidays too. The DN of 27th March lists out the school terms for the year 2003. According to this calendar, on an average, a child has 41 holidays (almost 1 month) during the April Holidays, 10 days at the end of the 2nd term and 34 days for the 3rd term. This is about 85 days but this may vary for Muslim Schools and for schools which do not have GCE A/L exam centres. Mind you, this 85 days per year holiday for teachers and children is in addition to the 54 weekend holidays and 13 Poya Days and other Public Holidays around 10. So, a teacher, who is a Public Officer, is entitled to 85 + 54 + 13 + 10 = 162 holidays per year and no wonder it is the most sought-after profession among young school leavers in this country, especially among rural women. This generation has forgotten that at one time the schools had two sessions - from 8:30 am to 12:30 p.m. and again from 1:30 pm to 3:45 p.m. Later, to suit political agendas and to amass votes at elections, the parties in power changed the school timing to one session and kept the young children hungry even up to 2:00 p.m. Nowadays nobody, even parents, are not worried how their children come home, tired and exhausted, after closing of the school at 2:00 p.m., getting home by waiting in queues for buses, travelling as standees, girls being teased, pushed or pinched at by pranksters, and reaching home by 3:00 or even late, and eat a stale lunch when the hunger is no more. Surely at the present hectic days with development and efficiency as the mantras, nobody has time to think about these poor children. In order not to digress and come back to the point again, the school holidays in Sri Lanka are not only determined by festive occasions but also by conducting of GCE A/L examinations. It is absurd to think the entire school is closed just because 1 or 2 exam halls are utilized to conduct examinations. And the other matter is that now the schools are single sessions. So, the authorities can conduct examinations in the morning session and conduct the schools in the evening or vice versa. In every urban city, working parents (both), especially non-teaching staff and public servants are finding it very difficult to keep their young school children during school holidays. Either they need to have a servant at home or they apply for leave to stay at home. Else, they take a visit to their native villages and enjoy the school holidays with the children. This pressure is indirectly reflected in low turnout of public officers during school holidays and in turn, low efficiency in public service. It is time that there should be some logical and rational thinking to save the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka without resorting to finding faults and generating excuses or defenses for failures. V. DIWAGAR, Are SEC investigations properly conducted? It is a great relief to investors that a Chairman has at last been appointed to the SEC. Much has been written against the Commissioners themselves, especially the private sector representatives, even though they are men of very high reputation. The main complaint is that they got an outside detailed opinion on the evidence regarding the Aitken Spence insider trading case before proceeding with a prosecution about which they had previously been given no details by the SEC Secretariat. The report they got evidently exposed big shortcomings in the investigation because it led to the resignation of a highly respected Commissioner who refused to be party to the prosecution. One of the first duties the new Chairman should undertake is to inquire into the shortcomings highlighted by the outside opinion and see what action is necessary. It is understood that the charges are based on shares being sold on insider information of large losses in the Aitken Spence Garment sector. This information is said to have been given by Aitken Spence representatives to the SEC. The Report and Accounts of Aitken Spence which were published a few weeks earlier show no sign of any such losses nor have they come up subsequently. Aitken Spence has publicly stood by its Accounts and it is believed that they have denied any loss of the Rs. 100/200 million range as alleged. Was this clarified with Aitken Spence before commencing prosecution? Was the Financial Analysis submitted by the SEC to the relevant authorities misleading and inaccurate? Investors and businessmen can only deal with the Secretariat of the SEC. The Commissioners are all non-executive. We must be reassured that the Secretariat which carries on the operations of the SEC is impartial and can explain its operations and decisions to a concerned public without resenting any comment or inquiry from even its own bosses. Many of the documents concerning this matter are now public documents filed in Court. The need for confidentiality which seems to have been observed more in the breach, no longer exists. A.I, Tit for tat is no means to solve the problem People's Peace Front is a coalition of more than 140 peace organizations working in all parts of Sri Lanka and place emphasis on the importance of settling all matters in a framework of negotiations. We, the peace-loving people are concerned over the future of the Government of Sri Lanka-LTTE peace talks and the happenings in the North. We read in the newspapers that an LTTE trawler had been destroyed by GOSL forces and a commercial vessel belonging to Chinese nationals had been destroyed by LTTE attack. Such actions, given the background, are inevitable but we feel that lack of confidence and trust between the two parties were the causes for such actions. Confidence building and its flow down are essential ingredients for any peace process but we understand that they are suspicious of each other. In a process of this nature it is quite understandable for such hiccups to take place but the public may lose confidence in the entire process. In respect of these two incidents there were varied reports in both the print and electronic media which constrains one to infer that certain sections of the media are biased. Such biased reporting will definitely misguide the people. We sincerely urge both parties to have faith in each other and share the understanding reached at the top level with their rank and file and the public. We also urge them to continue with the process without any let-up in the future. We also wish to inform the public that any hiatus in the progress of the peace process does not mean an end to the process and in such a process there will not be deadlines and ultimatums. We congratulate the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE on their sincere efforts to reach an acceptable solution. We urge the people not to be misguided by anti-peace elements but to place confidence in the peace process. Lakshan Dias, D.A.D.N.C. WIMALARATNA, Doctorates: truly and self-conferred Having read the front page news item under the heading "Overwhelming support for peace talks - poll", early in the morning in the Daily News of 24.03.03, with a smile and sense of satisfaction, I rushed through the other pages. When I came to the page "Letters" I got stuck seeing a letter under the above heading. Being a contributor myself to this column occasionally, I tried to grasp it to the best of my ability, I must admit, it was too much for me. I tried however, and the writer S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole giving no address of his residence in the letter, was trying to prove that Anton Balasingham, the counterpart of Prof. G.L. Peiris for the LTTE side at the negotiation table cannot use the prefix "Dr". He even criticises prof. G.L. Peiris for calling Anton Balasingham "Dr" and takes pain to quote from a recent book authored by Adele Balasingham that Anton Balasingham couldn't complete his doctorate because of his involvement in politics to champion, the cause of Tamils. The letter of S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole reminded me the day when I was taken, jsut as a five or six-year-old little child, by my maternal uncle to watch a circus. When everybody, the elders and grown up children, applauded the feats of the performers, I kept mum and showed no interest at all. But in between the feats the one who came their in multi-coloured costume to entertain made me enjoy every bit of it and even jump and clap my hands. My uncle who saw me clapping gave me a broad smile, probably because he was happy that I too was enjoying. Several readers of this letter of S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole; like me then as a six-year-old at the circus, no doubt could have enjoyed and appreciated it, even humming the good old song "He is a jolly good fellow....." At this critical juncture of peace process when some are trying to thwart it for political reasons, raising impertinent issues will only help them. P.C.P. GNANADURAI, There is a general dissatisfaction among the retired Army officers and soldiers with regard to the amnesty to be granted to Army deserters. However, we have to consider the practical aspect. Soldiers desert the Army probably due to fear of death and it is doubtful whether they would offer the required service to the country even if given the opportunity to re-join the Army. They are compelled to resort to illegal actions as the public is forbidden to offer employment to such deserters. It is better to discharge such persons, provided they return the arms in their possession, so that they could lead a normal life. These type of amnesty are inevitable in a democratic country. For eg: consider a case where an accused agrees to become a crown witness. Even if it's proved that he was the culprit, no action can be taken against him as he has been accepted a crown witness. I wish to quote in this instance the famous "Sathasivam murder case" in the 1950s where Mr. Sathasivam was charged with the alleged murder of his wife. The servant was accepted as crown witness and even though Dr. Colvin R de Silva proved that the servant was the murderer, action couldn't be taken against the servant as he was a crown witness. Therefore, I appeal to the public to accept these anomalies. S.R. BALACHANDRAN, After seeing on the Discovery Channel on SLRC recently one wonders why the militarily powerful nations are bombing the less powerful nations and hammering away in many ways and trying to finish up small nations. The Discovery Channel revealed some frightening facts. The end of many nations is not far away. All this is due to Global Warming. Who is responsible for this? The large industrial nations produce most of the Carbon Dioxide. Several countries have had conferences but with no result. Instead of trying to kill off small nations, why not use their energy to reduce the C02. Bombing Iraq will not help save the world, except taking possession of their oil resources. SLRC should show this film again and again. C. S. RATWATTE, |
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