With the unemployment rate among the country’s youth on the rise and subjects taught in the schools and universities largely not equipped to cater to the modern job market here and overseas, more voices are being raised among educationists and experts for a thorough reassessment of the prevailing education system to make it more relevant to the present day.
The latest to raise his voice in this respect is Commissioner General of Examinations L.M.D. Dharmasena, a former School Principal himself. He has called upon parents to direct their children more towards subjects related to science and technology, if they are to succeed in securing gainful employment. He has called on those currently following Arts subjects for their Advanced Level (A/L) examinations to also take up subjects related to technology. He has asked students who follow Arts subjects for their Ordinary Level (O/L) exam to switch to subjects such as English, Computer Science, Information Technology (IT) etc. when they enter the A/Ls.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for those who obtain their degrees in the Arts stream to fit into the modern job market. The demand, both in the public and private sectors is for those skilled in subjects aligned to technology. It is thus difficult to get good jobs in the public and private sector for Arts graduates.
The Examinations Chief is only voicing what many others have been saying all these years. Former Minister Amarasiri Dodangoda was a firm advocate for a radical change of the university curricula. This was 20 years ago and the situation practically remains the same, except for some cosmetic changes. Even certain Vice Chancellors and University Dons had been resisting change, perhaps in deference to students following the Arts stream who form the bulk of the university alumni - and are also the most radical. Here in lies the problem.
Around 150,000 students pass the A/L exam each year, but only 40,000 can gain university admission. A sizable segment of those who gain admission enter the Arts Faculties, leaving out the bulk of the students from the fields of science and technology. No wonder we cannot sufficiently cater to the present day job market where the demand is for those with skills in technology-related fields. Therefore, the unemployment figure is rather high.
Pathetically, unemployed graduates are taking on menial tasks for want of other options - even letting themselves to be hired as conservancy labourers, as recently reported in the media. Almost all these souls are degree holders from the Arts stream. The Government spends at least Rs. 500,000 on behalf of each university student until he/she graduates. Is this money worth it?
This system should change and ways should be explored for increasing the intake from those following science and technology-related subjects in the A/Ls. The Arts and Humanities subjects should get less prominence and gradually eliminated from the university system and the money spent on more productive academic spheres with job prospects.
Besides, all havoc in the universities is caused by Arts students such as engaging in radical politics and sadistic ragging. It is also these Arts students who unduly prolong their stay in universities. Perhaps this is the reason why President Ranil Wickremesinghe wants it made mandatory for all university students to leave the campuses after only one extra year. The conclusion is inescapable that such students come from the Arts Faculties since by nature of the subjects involved they have time to kill, unlike medical and engineering students whose courses are specific and well-streamlined.
It is also clear that those engaged in sadistic ragging of freshers form the bulk of the students who had overstayed their university tenures and are making a nuisance of themselves to others by disrupting their academic careers. These segments largely hail from depressed social classes and underprivileged backgrounds and carry heavy chips on their shoulders.
They have little prospect of being gainfully employed in any case. Their lack of knowledge of English which they derisively refer to as the Kaduwa (Sword) too has added to their feeling of inferiority. Thus, they view all other students with envious eyes and take out their frustrations on these hapless souls. It is also these types that form the bulk of radical political parties that are seen protesting daily, making various attempts to topple democratically-elected Governments. As Higher Education State Minister Dr. Suren Raghavan observed they do everything else but obtain their degrees.
Now that a positive step has been taken to curtail unrest in the Universities, President Wickremesinghe should also apply the same drastic steps that he has taken to combat the illegitimate anti-Government protests to eradicate the menace of ragging from our campuses too. It is strange that the Aragalaya leaders who weep buckets for the Cost of Living burdens heaped on the public are maintaining a deafening silence when it comes to the torture inflicted on the freshers by senior students in campuses. Of course, it is entirely possible that those behind sadistic ragging are members of the fringe political party now in the forefront of illegal street protests and other agitations.
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