Social Empowerment and Welfare Minister S. B. Dissanayake yesterday said the most difficult part of legalising the SAITM was done during his term as the Higher Education Minister.
The minister said his decision to publish the gazette recognising the SAITM as a degree awarding institute was a difficult but correct decision.
“All the deans of medical faculties and the University Grants Commission had given their consent for this gazette. I went ahead with this move because I was aware of the difficulties and large sums of money our students spent to obtain medical degrees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Russia among other countries,” he said.
The minister was addressing a press conference at his ministry. While congratulating SAITM Chairman Dr. Neville Fernando, the minister said the Sri Lanka Medical Council had no right to deny registering the SAITM medical degree holders.
He said 55 percent of those who gain admission to the state universities for medicine were selected on district quota while another 5 percent get admission because of the quota system given for underprivileged districts. “Only the rest, 40 percent, gain admission on the marks they score.
Therefore, some students who had obtained three ‘A’ passes failed to get admission, while some with three ‘S’ passes could get admission from areas like Killinochchi and Mannar,” he said.
“About 450,000 students learn at international schools now. They cannot enter state universities. Private universities must be there for these children to have higher education,” he added.
He said the SAITM is ahead in quality wise compared to the Jaffna and Batticaloa medical faculties.
Add new comment