Selection of students for university based on school rankings - a welcome move

Education policy and its implementation has a long term impact on the future of any country. Therefore every change that is to be made in regard to education has to be done after a thorough study and careful thought. Otherwise however laudable the objectives of such changes are, they can end up being self defeating In 1971 the then Government introduced the standardisation of GCE Advanced Level results for university admissions, to correct disparities in the education system. However such changes were not adequately thought out and as a result there was, what may be called collateral damage on relations between the Sinhala and Tamil communities.

The standardisation introduced was based on the two languages that were the medium of instruction in the schools. Since the Sinhalese studied in the Sinhala medium and the Tamils ( with a smaller number of Muslims) studied in the Tamil medium, the standardisation was perceived as discriminatory by the Tamil Community.

Later this perception of discrimination contributed in a substantial way to the events that led to the growth of the LTTE problem.

Unfortunately even the left leaders who were ministers in the then Government and were sensitive to minority concerns did not have the foresight to realise there might be unintended harm to inter-community relations in the future.

It is axiomatic that a perception of being discriminated even if not correct is the most fertile ground for dissident movements and if not addressed can even end up in violence as evidenced by the emergence of the LTTE.

Several years later media- wise standardisation was replaced by district- wise standardisation which addressed district wise disparities but did not take into account the difference in facilities within the district. Later the Z- score system was introduced to select students for university admission, which according to the Education Minister Dulles Alahapperuma, has not been reviewed for the past 20 years.

In several developed districts like Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Jaffna and Matara there are wide disparities in the quality of education imparted in various schools within any of these districts. For instance in Colombo there is a wide disparity in the standard of education imparted at schools like Royal, Ananda and Visakha and other lesser known smaller schools. This explains the rush for admission to the so called popular schools at the beginning of every year.

The Minister gives an example of the unfairness of this situation by citing an example from his own district and poses the relevant question: "Is it fair to expect a student of

Walakanda Maha Vidyayalaya in Urugamuwa or Alapaladeniya Maha Vidyalaya in Deniyaya to secure the same Z- score as a student who attends Rahula College or Sujatha Vidyalaya in the Matara District."

The current attempt to base university admissions on the rankings of schools is therefore a step in the right direction. But like all changes in the education field it should be well thought out to ensure that the remedy is not worse than the disease.

Whatever changes are effected should be made only after adequate notice is given to the students and parents so they can prepare themselves for the new system.

It is significant to note that the late S.L.M. Shafie Marikar former Principal of Zahira College, Colombo and livewire of the All Ceylon Muslim Educational Conference (ACMEC ) was a strong advocate of School based standardisation. He had repeatedly made representations to Governments of the day through ACMEC in the 1980s, to urge a rethink of educational policies relating to education and urged that a school ranking based standardisation for admission to universities be put in place.

It is also important to fix strict timelines so that with the passage of time disparities in standards of schools and across districts will disappear enabling all students to be admitted purely on merit.

It is a damning indictment on the education system in the country that even 50 years after standardisation was introduced in 1971 the country is still grappling with the issue of standardisation due to differences in the standards of schools.

According to Education Minister Dulles Alahapperuma there had been only five districts categorised as underdeveloped in 2000 but the number of underdeveloped districts had increased to 16 by 2018. From the media reports of the Education Minister’s statements it is not clear whether he means underdeveloped in the broader sense or whether he is referring to development or lack of it in the education sector.

The university sector is currently caught up in another issue, namely a discussion on the issue of ragging. The case of Pasindu Hir ushan the f i rst ye a r Management Faculty student at the Sri Jayawardenepura University who has been hospitalised after injuries sustained from a tyre rolled onto him down a set of stairs in the university premises has grabbed the attention of not only the education authorities but also the country as a whole.

While the evidence that has emerged so far does not conclusively indicate that the injuries suffered by Pasindu were as a result of ragging, the incident has brought to the fore the whole issue of ragging and the safety of students in universities.

While the incidents of ragging in the universities has reached crisis proportions over the years and various attempts have been made to curb this phenomenon which has often descended to cruel and demeaning levels, none of these attempts have succeeded.

Even the enacting of special legislation in the form of the Prohibition of Ragging and other forms of Violence in Educational Institutions Act No. 20 of 1998 has hardly had an impact on this form of behavior in the universities.

These incidents almost always evoke the customary sentiments from members of the public whenever such incidents take place. Among the views expressed are that this is the fault of free education resulting in those from the poorer classes entering the university, while others attribute it to politicised student unions who use the ragging process to enroll new members from the freshers while yet others fault the mindset of the perpetrators who indulge in such sadistic acts.

However such simplistic labeling raises more questions than answers. How do a set of students who have grown up in the care of caring parents in a family unit transform themselves and engage in destructive behavior patterns against those who are following them into the university systems?

Is it something in the university environment that brings about such changes in the behavior of these students or is it the mob mentality that governs the behavior of the errant students? It would be too dangerous to propose solutions based on such guess work and will not help to conclusively deal with such problems.

Universities are meant to be centres of research. They are therefore well positioned and have all the personnel and tools to do a comprehensive research to arrive at an answer to the elusive question as to what makes students take to ragging in this totally objectionable and unacceptable form.

Clearly the phenomenon of ragging in the country’s universities has to be addressed in a variety of ways. In the short term the law has to be enforced to deal with unlawful acts that are carried out in the name of ragging. In the short and medium term university administrators have to carefully and sensitively monitor and guide students to avoid and or refrain from following undesirable courses of action.

In the long term based on a comprehensive research in which all stakeholders including students are consulted and on the recommendations of such a research, a process must be put in place to transform the university culture into one where ragging in its current form is frowned open by the students themselves.

This will not be an easy task and has to be handled taking into consideration the sensitivities of the diverse strands of student thinking. Such a goal will take time to achieve but is worth the effort in the National Interest.