The Hon. Sugath Wasantha de Silva

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, in Henry Jayasena’s stage adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s work “Hunuwataye Kathawa,” the theme is that a thing should belong to the most suitable person. Just as fertile fields should go to the good farmer, positions should go to those fit to fulfill the necessary task. I welcome these amendments that propose a highly democratic process for appointing Deans and related matters in university administration.

¶ 02 Democratic practice is the humane way to organize public affairs. These reforms aim to end subjectivity, nepotism and cronyism in university administration, dismantling the fiefdoms some Vice-Chancellors and Deans build around themselves. This is not terrorism; this is democracy—clearly stated in our policy manifesto, for which we received a historic public mandate. This is one step; we pledge to extend such democratic practices across all administrative appointments up to the Vice-Chancellor in future legislation.

¶ 03 Beyond democratizing administration, we must democratize academic access. I represent a community where over 1.6 million people live with disabilities. Their desire to obtain degrees with equal rights in universities is strong. So far, only around four streams have been open to students with disabilities; that is not democracy—that is educational terror. We are removing such barriers and opening all degree streams for eligible students with disabilities. That is democracy.

¶ 04 Let me share experiences: A colleague at the University of Ruhuna, a wheelchair user, could not access lecture halls and had to listen from the foot of staircases, yet he graduated with honours. People with disabilities have faced barriers in courses, lecture halls, libraries and hostels. Under this Government, the Ministry of Higher Education has adopted a policy to integrate new trends and open all streams to students with disabilities. Moreover, the President, as Finance Minister, allocated an additional Rs. 5,000 per month on top of Mahapola for university students with disabilities to reduce their economic burden and enable better outcomes, integrating them as equal citizens and intellectuals in society. This is the democratization of education.

¶ 05 Today I also met with the Sri Lanka Thalassaemia Association; they requested expanding access for their members to universities. Some already study and graduate. We will widen opportunities so that all such communities can join as enlightened citizens. Thank you for the time.