• 'You are the Jury'

• Two varieties of wheat flour

• Prisons shortcomings

• Crime and punishment

'You are the Jury'

Dr. Tara de Mel's article 'You are the Jury' made enlightening reading. Whether one agrees with her views and opinions or not, one can certainly give her credit for her assertions and the bold approach to a very sensitive issue. As she has very correctly mentioned one does not have to be a rocket scientist to understand that there is a very serious structural and social problem with the system of education in Sri Lanka which needs to be addressed immediately, if one is to see the results several years later.

Not being an expert on education I shall not dwell on the technical aspects mentioned in her article. However, being blessed as the nephew and cousin of two former Commissioners of Examination in Sri Lanka and having had, the fortune of meeting frequently with some young Sri Lankan Presidential College Team participants in Washington DC, plus the opportunity of visiting several suburban and rural schools during my visits to Sri Lanka, permits me, I believe, to make the following observations on an objective basis.

First and foremost, it is of utmost importance to keep the system of education out of the sphere of politics. Whatever corruption which has seeped through to the society and thereby to the system of education has come from the bane of the Sri Lankan society viz. Politics.

Classic past examples are many. But the few which comes to mind are ones such as the creation of a faculty at the University of Ceylon mainly to accommodate the son of a former Governor and the systematic discrimination against Tamil students. Keeping politics out of education is not going to be an easy matter, but one which has to be done at some stage if Sri Lanka is to progress.

Second, I believe that the system of education in Sri Lanka needs a complete overhaul to take in to account realities of globalization. Sri Lankan System of Education is still based on an antiquated British system. While the British system in England has evolved with the times, Sri Lanka's has not. Sri Lanka has not developed an indigenous system to suit the requirements of the island.

As Dr. de Mel too has pointed out tunnel-vision should give way to 'open-mindedness'. Students should be taught critical thinking and evaluation and not rote memorization. Young people should be career trained to take in to account the laws of supply and demand and not snobbish values.

Third, on the issue of the language of English one cannot deny the fact that, overall, there has been a complete deterioration of the standard of English in Sri Lanka over the years.

It is a universal language one will need to survive in the modern day world. Even the Eastern European and Latin American countries, which were far behind the Commonwealth countries in the use of the English language till recently, are fast catching up.

I have been surprised to meet recent students from Colombo schools who cannot communicate properly in English. One can understand and try to justify the reasons of Nationalism of the fifties. But the present day student is living in the Twenty-First century and not the Twentieth and the system of education should be geared towards their requirements.

As reflected by the baby-bloomer population floating without a proper background in English and other previous experiences, it is the children from low-income groups who will suffer in the future by misguided policy decisions.

Fourth, in a free society privately run schools should be allowed to compete hand in hand with a well-run State system. There is no doubt that the program for Nationalization of schools has failed, not so much because the policy itself was bad but, due to a lack of resources both human and cash in the State sector. If past students and parents are willing to get organized in a way that would allow them to take over the running of an already nationalized school that should be allowed too.

However, privately run schools should be made to understand that their student population from low income families on need based scholarship system. This is a system which has been proven very successful in USA. Even at some of the most expensive private schools in America one will come across students from low-income families competing hand in hand with students from high income families.

All this no doubt will need a lot of effort and dedicated people like Dr. de Mel. Although I do not agree with all what she has mentioned in her article, it will certainly be challenging to be part of that jury and thereby assist Sri Lanka to get rid of rampant corruption.

KOSALA G. TANTULA,
USA

Two varieties of wheat flour

Flour has, according to media reports been imported from Argentina, Ukraine and Turkey to be sold to bakers at a lower price so as to contain the spiralling cost of bread.

Bread of the texture to suit the Sri Lankan palate could only be made from American or Australian wheat flour or a combination of such flour with other varieties of imported wheat flour. It is also surprising that the Bakers' Associations have not spoken of this aspect of baking bread.

I have served as an Assistant Food Commissioner and later a Deputy Commissioner in the Food Department during its heyday and am speaking from knowledge and experience gathered by me over a period of 15 years from 1973 to 1988. I have also served as a Chairman of an M.P.C.S. for a considerable period of time and am therefore entitled to speak with authority, if I may say so:

During the pre-Prima days, the Food Department imported large quantities of wheat flour to meet consumer demand which kept growing over the years. A large percentage of imports was from the U.S.A. under the PL. 480 agreement, while smaller quantities were imported from Australia and the European Continent. Our bakers preferred American wheat flour for baking bread and the Department met this requirement by issuing American wheat flour to bakers through the M.P.C.S. network, while flour imported from other sources was directed to estate areas and the North and East where bread had a lesser demand.

Whenever there was a shortage of American wheat flour, the bakers used a mixture of American flour and other imported wheat flour to make bread of the required quality. There was constant monitoring of this process by officials of the Food Department and Price Control Department. Unfortunately both Departments are ineffective now.

After the Prima Flour Mill was established in 1988 as a B.O.T. venture, the import of wheat flour was discontinued by the Food Department and Prima took on the responsibility of supplying wheat flour to the Department. Under the new arrangement, the Food Department imported whole wheat grain from abroad and issued it to Prima who supplied milled flour to the Department. Even under this set up, most of the wheat grain was imported from U.S.A. under the PL. 480 agreement while the balance was met with imports from other countries.

For milling flour suitable for Sri Lankan conditions, hard wheat and soft wheat had to be imported in certain proportions and issued to Prima and not just any wheat.

The above facts would indicate that the import of wheat flour from other countries and even India will not solve the problems of our bakers or consumers as such flour would not be suitable for making bread. Bakers will continue to purchase Prima Flour at a higher price and make bread which will be sold at a premium price as at present.

The introduction of two varieties of wheat flour priced differently will only help racketeers and crooked traders who will sell flour at the higher price fixed by Prima Company.

We are being very naive if we are going to believe that our traders are some sort of 'Vessantaras' who will display two varieties of flour for sale marked 'Prima flour' and 'Government imported flour' with a two tier price structure.

I urge the authorities to consider the above facts and work out a practical scheme to bring relief to the bread consumers without indulging in mere rhetoric. It may be unpalatable, but we must admit that bread has become a staple food of the rich , not so rich and poor masses of Sri Lanka.

ROBERT JOSEPH,
Ratnapura

Prisons shortcomings

The admiration of our prisons have come down to a lowest level.

(a) prisoners escape during transport to court houses and jail break.

(b) Unruly behaviour take place within the prisons.

(c) Most of the prisoners are drug addicts and use different kinds of narcotics.

(d) Underworld is controlled by some prisoners using hand phones.

(e) Some of the prisoners possess dangerous weapons.

Now who is responsible for the above anti-social acts? One cannot criticise and say that the Government is responsible for these incidents. The Prison authorities have miserably failed to discharge their duties satisfactorily during the past.

If the prison officials are unable to perform their duties correctly within the four walls well protected, how on earth can one expect the Sri-Lanka Police to do their duty in the open air who become targets to the underworld.

H. G. P. JAYASEKERA,
Ampitiya

Crime and punishment

The newspapers reported a murder, sparked off by adultery. Quite rightly, the accused were sentenced. However, the man who was responsible for the incident has got off scot-free, with hardly a blemish on his name, retaining his high office with its perks, and the sympathies of his family, friends and colleagues.

In Sri Lanka now, such escapades are the done thing and more of a qualification for remaining in office, rather than a reason for being booted out of it! Even in the lax western society, public figures are accountable. When caught, they at least look shame-faced slink out of sight, or are thrown out by sheer force of public opinion.

On the contrary, here they thrive on immoral, illegal activities. It is only when caught red-handed that they start frantically groping for an alibi, which is soon fabricated, with the able help of the police. It was just recently that we saw the accused in a murder attempt, all dolled up and relaxing at a musical extravaganza, in full view of the police, whose primary job is to arrest suspected killers!

According to the Bible, both parties to adultery are equally guilty, which is borne out by the Muslims, who make sure that both, if caught, are punished. Under what law is it allowed to pass the maximum sentence on somebody who has disposed of an adulteress, found guilty, while her partner, who started the affair and is more guilty, remains untouched by the law, as if he was innocent of any wrong-doing whatsoever?

THERESE DE LIVERA,
Colombo 7