IT IS a common misperception that students are work-shy layabouts. According to figures collected in Europe, Portuguese students are the most academically assiduous, spending over 40 hours a week at lectures and in the library. And even English students in higher education, seemingly the least likely to flick through a recommended text, put in over 25 hours a week. Yet an element of doubt remains. The estimates of working hours were supplied by students themselves, who may have considered time spent in the college bar as indistinguishable from any other period of study.

We reproduce the following story not purely for its news value, but it is a good starting point for a discussion on the differences in the aspirations of children and their parents on education. Things have changes dramatically from 1930s and 40s but do we still have to remind parents about the importance? ___________________________________________ Two school girls aged 11 and 9, assaulted by their drunken father, were admitted to Karapitiya Hospital. The father had beaten and kicked the girls when they asked for money to buy exercise books. The mother of the injured girls Roshini Sandanam made a complaint to the Yakkalamulla Police, who promptly took the father Kathiresan Subramaniam into custody and produced him before the Baddegama Magistrate.

A National Committee will be tasked with formulating a new education system that would cater to the present demands and a development oriented outlook. On President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s direction, Education Minister Susil Premajayantha has entrusted the formulation of a new Education Act for General Education in Sri Lanka to this National Committee to overhaul the outdated education set up and replace it with a system that keeps pace with the developing trends. The current education system was formulated under the provision of Education Ordinance No. 31 of 1939. This is now outdated and obsolete and does not cater to modern requirements.

University students of Sabaragamuwa yesterday protested in Colombo demanding the reopening of the university.

THE construction of the College of Technology in Jaffna will be completed in February, the Vocational and Technical Training Ministry said. The facility is being built with Korean aid at a cost of Rs. 233 million. The College of Technology in Jaffna is one of the most successful projects in the North initiated by the Government, a Ministry spokesman said. “Construction will be completed without any delay,” he said.

THE Government will recruit 12,854 graduates to the teacher service to quell the prevailing teacher service on the directive of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said State Revenue and Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya. The Minister was addressing the media at the Ministry recently. Over two thousand graduates who have undergone training under the Tharuna Aruna third programme will receive teaching appointments by January 01 next year. In addition, 10,766 graduates will be posted to National and Provincial Schools as teachers. 1,507 graduates will be appointed to National Schools while 9,259 graduates will be posted to Provincial Schools.

අද දහවල් කොළඹ කොටුවේ පැවති උද්ඝෝෂණයක් හේතුවෙන් ප්‍රදේශය තුළ නොසන්සුන් තත්ත්වයක් හට ගත්තේය.උද්ඝෝෂණයක නිරතවූ රැකියා විරහිත උපාධිධාරීන් පිරිසක් මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශය දෙසට ගමන් කිරීමට ගත් උත්සාහයේදී මේ තත්ත්වය මතුවිය. පොලිස් අණ නොතකා අමාත්‍යාංශය දෙසට යාමට උත්සහ දැරූ උද්ඝෝෂකයන් හට පොලිසියෙන් කඳුළු ගෑස් සහ ජල ප්‍රහාර එල්ල විණ. මේ ප්‍රහාර මධ්‍යයේ සිය උත්සාහය අතහැර දැමූ උද්ඝෝෂකයෝ රැස්වීමක් පැවැත්වීමෙන් අනතුරුව විසිර ගියහ. 2006 අයවැයෙන් පොරොන්දු වූ රැකියා අවස්ථා වසර දෙකක් පුරා නොලැබීමට විරෝධය පළ කිරීමේ අරමුණ ඇතිව ඒකාබද්ධ රැකියා විරහිත උපාධිධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය මෙම උද්ඝෝෂණය සංවිධාන කර තිබිණ.

The suspended students of the Peradeniya University were given bail on Friday after the University administration said in writing it would not ‘push’ the Police to proceed with the case against them though another blow for the students seems to be on the way. Peradeniya University Registrar Ranjith de Alwis told The Sunday Times that the Police may file another case in courts acting on the complaint made by the University administration regarding the detention of the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Registrar and three Faculty Deans in the Senate House on October 23 by the students.“We made the complaint to the Police so they may file another case in courts on that complaint,” he said. Mr. de Alwis said the case against the students was filed under the ragging and other forms of violence in High Education Institutes Act which was introduced in 1998.

Parents of Isipathana MMV students have strongly objected to a decision to give on lease a land opposite the college to the Milinda Moragoda Foundation claiming that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had earlier promised to donate it to the school. The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) under whose purview the plot of land comes has leased it to the Moragoda Foundation in late 2004 for at least 25 years while the students’ parents and Old Boys of the college had been kept in the dark about the deal.   President Rajapaksa – then the Prime Minister – had given an assurance while addressing a ceremony at the college in the same year in which the land was leased to the Foundation, that the land would be given to the college. Isipathana Principal P. Kuruppu confirmed that President Rajapaksa promised to donate the land to the school and said he was receiving many complaints from parents for losing it to the Moragoda Foundation.

Teachers are going ahead with a two-day strike in schools throughout the island as the dead-lock between the National Salaries and Cadres Commission (NSCC) and the teachers’ unions continues. The strike to be held tomorrow and on Tuesday is expected to cripple functions of most schools in the country, except in certain parts of the Northern and Eastern Provinces where the teachers would not be taking part in the protest campaign. However the unions have sent out leaflets calling teachers in the north and east also to join the trade union action. Salaries and Cadres Commission co-chairman Lionel Fernando said the NSCC is working on the matter though it does not publicize developments regarding the issue. “We are investigating the replies we received from the unions explaining their salary anomalies in response to the requests we made in accordance with the Cabinet decisions,” he said.