Power, education and failure to learn

The Inter University Students' Federation (IUSF) has renewed its call for the government to allocate more state funds for education-at least 6% of GDP; this is a demand Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya herself made when she was a prominent member of the Federation of University Teachers' Associations (FUTA).

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Dismissing the proposed educational reforms as ill-conceived and retrogressive, the ISUF has condemned what it describes as a government move to close down lowenrolment schools. He has reminded the government that the election manifesto of the NPP promises to ensure that every family will have a primary school, located within a three-km radius from its residence.

The NPP government, which appears to treat its mandate as carte blanche, has chosen to ignore protests. Power makes rulers impervious to reason, and at times drives them to act in such a way that they end up having to outrun protesters baying for their blood, as we saw here in 2022, in Bangladesh last year, and in Nepal very recently. There is no defence against a tsunami of public anger.