SAITM solution: KDU Special Provision Bill to be debated on Wednesday

The General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University ( Special Provisions) Bill which lays down the national policy on the absorption of South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) students to the KDU will be debated in Parliament on Wednesday if it is not challenged in the Supreme Court.

If the Bill is challenged for its constitutionality before the SC, the debate will be postponed until a determination is given, the Committee on Parliamentary Business has decided.

The General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University ( Special Provisions) Bill was tabled in Parliament on June 8 by Higher Education Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe.

The KDU (Special Provisions) Bill vests powers with the university to absorb those students who have obtained basic qualifications from among the students who have registered with the SAITM between September 15, 2009 and May 15, 2017, to the KDU to follow the study programme leading to the award of the MBBS degree ( KDU) as well as to award the MBBS degree ( KDU) to those students who successfully complete its study programme.

The Bill also empowers the KDU Board of Management to decide on the criteria to be employed to determine the conditions subject to which the MBBS degree would be awarded to those SAITM students having basic qualifications and have completed the study programme leading to the award of the MBBS degree at the SAITM.

The basic qualifications have been determined as minimum of ‘s’ grade (simple) pass in chemistry, physics and biology at the G. C. E. ( Advanced Leve l ) Examination conducted by the Examinations Department of the Ministry of Education of Sri Lanka or an equivalent foreign qualification including equivalent qualifications of students who have offered the subjects chemistry, mathematics and biology.