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SLT former
Chairman files rights plea challenging removal from post
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SLT former Chairman files
rights plea challenging removal from post Mr. Hemasiri Fernando, Secretary to the Prime Minister, yesterday filed a Fundamental Rights violation plea in the Supreme Court, challenging his removal from the post of Director/Chairman of the Sri Lanka Telecom Limited, with effect from 24.12.98. The respondents are Mangala Samanaweera (Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Media), K. C. Logeswaran (Secretary to the Ministry), Dixon Nilaweera (Secretary to the Treasury, Sri Lanka Telecom Limited, Lalith De Mel (Chairman Designate Sri Lanka Telecom Ltd.), Hideaki Kamitsuma (Chief Executive Officer SLT) the Attorney General, Suntel (Pvt) Ltd and Lanka Bell (Pvt) Ltd. The petition requested the Court to declare the violation of Fundamental Rights of the petitioner, for being unequally treated and to grant him compensation in Rs. 25,000,000. The petition has also invoked the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, to declare that the order issued by Dixon Nilaweera, removing the petitioner from the post of Director/Chairman SL Telecom, by letter dated 24.12.98, is illegal, null and void and is of no force or aim in law, and that the petitioner lawfully holds the office as Director/Chairman of the Sri Lanka Telecom forthwith. The petition further requested the Supreme Court to declare that, the appointment of Lalith de Mel, as Chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom, in succession to the petitioner, is null and void and of no force or avail in law. The petition added that Dixon Nilaweera has purported to remove the petitioner, at the instance of the Minister, who in his capacity as a single member of the Cabinet of Ministers, exercises no jurisdiction whatsoever in the appointment or removal of a nominee director of the Sri Lanka Telecom Limited. Thus the said action of the third respondent Nilaweera, is invalid and ultra vires in addition to being discriminatory. The said removal is contrary to the provisions of the Company Act. The petition explained that the petitioner incurred the displeasure of the first respondent Minister by reason of the fact that the petitioner in order to secure the best interests of the Sri Lanka Telecom Limited, opposed the grant of undue benefits to the private operators, in view of the grave prejudice thereby caused to the SLT Limited. The petition also said in para (70) that the petitioner's relationship with the first respondent, suffered a total breakdown, in view of an unfortunate incident involving the said first respondent Minister. More specifically the first respondent had obtained a credit card from the fourth respondent SL Telecom Ltd, and had used the same during his visits overseas. This credit card issue, was even debated in Parliament. The first respondent, suspected the petitioner of having given information regarding the credit card issue to the press. But the petitioner did not give any such information to the media. The relevant documents had been in the custody of the Japanese officials. Furthermore, although Mr. Somasiri, Managing Director of the SL Telecom Ltd, had advised the Chief Executive Officer to issue a personal cheque to settle the first respondent's credit bills, the first respondent alleged that it had been the petitioner who had so advised the Chief Executive Officer. Threafter, the first respondent had stated publicly, on numerous occasions that he would ensure that the petitioner was removed from the post of chairman before the end of the year. The petition in paragraph 87 alleged that the first respondent had conceded at a press interview that he had received a sum of Rs. 20,000,000 from Suntel Ltd, for the development of a Cultural Centre at his electorate at Matara. The petition will be supported in the Supreme Court shortly. Heroin addicts held over killing of
Marketing Director Police on Sunday [9] arrested a heroin addict who allegedly knifed to death the director marketing of the Confifi hotel management company Mohamed Sabri, near Surf Club in the Mount Lavinia police area on the previous day. The arrest had been made by Dehiwela police, Senior SP [Mt. Lavinia] Pathmasiri Liyanage told ‘The Island’ last night. He said that on information elicited from the suspect another member of the five man gang involved in Saturday night’s killing had been arrested by Mt. Lavinia police. "We are hunting for the rest of the gang," Liyanage said adding that all of them were heroin addicts. The same gang had been involved in several robberies in the Mt. Lavinia division. "They specialise in robbing couples who visit the Mt. Lavinia beach and those returning home after late night parties and carnivals," Liyanage said. The Dehiwela police had detained the main suspect on Saturday for his alleged involvement in the robbery of gold jewellery and other valuables from a couple in the Mt. Lavinia police division area several days ago. Under interrogation, he had admitted involvement in the Saturday’s killing outside Surf Club, police said. Asked whether the knife used to stab Mohamed had been found so far, police replied in the negative. The suspect had claimed that they had been involved in a series of armed robberies to buy heroin, police said. Police investigating Saturday’s killing said that the victim Mohamed and a female friend had gone to Surf Club for dinner. After dinner they were strolling the beach for about half-an-hour and returned to the victim’s car. At that time the five member gang had surrounded them. They had been armed with knives. It was not clear whether any of them carried a pistol. Police believe that the victim had been knifed when he resisted the gang. Despite resistance they had managed to remove gold jewellery and the victim’s purse. Mohamed was rushed to the Colombo South Hospital but died shortly afterwards. The main suspect had claimed that the jewellery, purse and the knife used in the killing had been taken away by the other three members of the gang who managed to fled. Police were confident of arresting them. Asked whether the gang had tried to rape the 34 year old woman accompanying the victim, the police replied in the negative. Police said that there was no evidence to suggest that this particular gang was involved in rape. "We believe they were only interested in robbing jewellery and other valuables," Senior SP Liyanage said. However the gang had grabbed the woman and harassed her. Despite on and off successes against the narcotics trade, huge stocks of heroin continued to be smuggled into the country, police admit. The involvement of a gang of heroin addicts in a killing came amidst ongoing investigations into last week’s arrest of an Afghan and a Pakistani along with 4.5 kgs of cocaine and 300 grams of heroin respectively. Authorities said that the arrest of an Afghan national last Monday [4] at the Bandaranaike International Airport trying to smuggle in 4.5 kgs of heroin worth approximately 18 million was the first case involving an Afghan. The detection was the biggest ever cocaine recovery made in Sri Lanka. Officials said that the suspect was carrying a forged Japanese passport and had tried to pretend to be a visiting Japanese scholar. EU to play positive role in helping
SAARC The European Union will give further cooperation in diverse ways with SAARC and play a positive role in helping the South Asian Organisation. This was stated by the German Ambassador in Sri Lanka Mr. Helmut Van Edig and Mr. Iuka Uusitalo, Ambassador of the European Union at a joint press conference held yesterday. Germany will be the President of the union for the first six months of this year. The German Ambassador Helmut Van Edig said that there would be co-operation in the regular transfer of integration processes to help SAARC bring about co-operation among its many members. He added that in the case of Sri Lanka civil aviation was currently a targeted area of preference. The economic co-operation according to Mr. Van Edig will focus on investment through the European Community Investment Partners Scheme, under which the EU will publish a Asia-Invest report on Sri Lanka this year. The EU will also continue to support Sri Lankan efforts to upgrade the Intellectual Property Rights system and to achieve international standards of Intellectual Property protection. The German Ambassador said that the EU was willing to make a special effort beyond what is already done to rehabilitate and reconstruct the North and North-Eastern provinces, provided that there is lasting peace in the country. He added that the EU would continue to provide emergency aid and support actions in favour of the internally displaced persons via international relief agencies and NGOs. The Ambassador of the European Union said that Sri Lanka would have an important role to play in furthering co-operation between the European Union and the SAARC bloc. It was both chairing the organisation and has one of its members as Secretary General, he said. He added that the EU with its experience of integration would be able to provide training to the SAARC Secretary to strengthen itself. Mr. Uusitalo also said that in terms of direct co-operation between the two blocks, that SAARC could apply for the Generalised System of Preference, if it was in agreement with what it entails. Under such a scheme, goods from the region produced with its own resources and not those of the USA for instance would get preferential status. "This would also facilities trade," he said. The EU Ambassador said that the impact of the introduced of the Euro currency would have a gradual effect on Sri Lanka. He said that it would first be the banks that would have to adjust, followed by Sri Lankan companies. This he said was because Europe was the second largest export market. He added that the tourist sector too would have to deal with Euros in a few years time when the currencies of the member states are cased out. "In time to come Central Banks may even hold Euros in reserve," he said. Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom are those which opted out of the single currency system. Greece was denied status because it failed to meet with minimum criteria set out by the European Central Bank. Mr. Uusitalo said that opinion polls indicate that those countries that had opted out would introduced the Euro in 2-4 years time. With the programme that was initiated at the beginnings of the year by July, 2002, the changeover of local currencies of member states to the Euro will be complete. From this year the bloc will have a single monetary policy with foreign exchange operations in member currencies conducted in Euro. Mr. Van Edig said that the EU aims to generate more employment in the EU, consolidate and develop the Union internally and strengthen and reinforce the profile of the EU in its foreign relations. The Agenda 2000 programme encompasses the Common Agriculture Policy which is a thorny issue and would be reformed. He added that in terms of financing the EU Germany which shoulders 60 per cent of net contributions, would seek a correction in the mechanisms and a more equitable deal. The EU will also seek to harmonise its refugee asylum and immigration policies and formulate a union policy covering such areas as judicial co-operation in civil and criminal and border control. In its efforts to fight illegal immigration the EU is expected to adopt an early warning system, Mr. Van Edig said. Troops on Sunday afternoon repulsed a terrorist attack at Ampakamam killing at least three Tigers, Defence Ministry said yesterday. Subsequently, three bodies had been recovered along with one light machine gun, one T-56 weapon, one radio set, one rocket propelled grenade and two identification tags. Two soldiers had been wounded in action. Meanwhile at least five more terrorists had been killed north of Mankulam in separate confrontations which occurred last Saturday and Sunday. Dy. Minister accuses UNP of torching vehicle Deputy Minister Milroy Fernando yesterday accused the UNP of setting fire to a vehicle at Wennappuwa last Saturday (9). Mr. Fernando said that the UNP has later blamed the PA for the torching. In a statement issued through the Industrial Development Ministry, the deputy minister claimed that the UNP meeting had been provided with full police security and not a single incident occurred. Thailand denies sending arms to LTTE BANGKOK, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Thailand on Monday denied a newspaper report it had supplied Tamil Tiger rebels with arms for their independence struggle in northern Sri Lanka. Thai military spokesman Banchorn Chavalsilp said the report in the Thai daily Nation was wrong to suggest that senior Thai army officials were involved in the procurement and shipment of weapons to Sri Lanka to help Tamil rebels. The Nation had quoted Sri Lankan army spokesman Sunil Tennekoon as saying his country had supplied Thailand last year with the names of officers involved in the arms trade and other evidence. But Banchorn told Reuters the report was incorrect. "The military totally denies the report in the Nation. Thai armed forces never get involved or deal with the Tamil Tiger guerrillas," he said. The Nation on Monday quoted Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar as saying Tamil rebels had used bases in Thailand to funnel weapons to their comrades in northern Sri Lanka. Kadirgamar said the issue had been raised with Thailand in 1996 and 1997 but there had been no response. "We are very concerned that they are using Thai territory, a country with which we have excellent relations," he was quoted as saying in an interview conducted last week. The newspaper quoted Tennekoon as saying the rebels, fighting for an independent homeland in north and east Sri Lanka, had used the Thai island of Phuket and coastal areas along the Indian Ocean since 1996. "After a lull of one year, the Tigers resumed using Thai soil last August," Tennekoon said. Banchorn made no comment on these allegations. Lankan to represent SA seat in CIMA - UK council At the recently concluded election for the position of member of council for area 14 (South Asia) of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants - UK Nihal de Silva FCA, FCMA was elected after a recently contested election in which a foreign national also contested. Area 14 of CIMA now includes Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Afghanistan. Nihal de Silva is a past President of the CIMA Sri Lanka Division and is presently the Senior Partner of B. R. de Silva & Company, Chartered Accountants. Route permits of striking
private bus operators will be cancelled — Minister Private bus services originating from Matugama and those plying on routes 171 (Koswatte-Fort), 144 (Rajagiriya-Fort) and 152 (Koswatte-Pettah) were inoperative yesterday following a call for strike action by the Private Bus Operators Co-operative Society, transport sources said. ‘Some of the busmen had kept off the road due to fear of threats’, Wijesiri Soysa, Chairman, Western Province Private Bus Transport Authority explained. He said that except for these routes, all other private bus services were normal. At Matugama, the affected routes were those originating from that town and not buses entering Matugama from other areas, he added. Contacted by ‘The Island’, Transport and Highways Minister A. H. M. Fowzie reiterated that route permits of bus operators who keep off the roads will be cancelled.’ I have already instructed the authorities to go ahead with this’, he said yesterday. Mr. Fowzie said he had directed the Matugama Peoplised Service to deploy additional buses in view of the situation which had developed there. Mr. Soysa said that he discussed the matter with the Minister on Sunday morning and it was agreed to cancel route permits of buses which failed to operate. He noted that no one has the right to take arbitrary decisions without even informing the Authority and sans any discussions. Reference to the Saturday Commentary titled Governor Stanley out? published on 9/01/99, Mr. Stanley Tillekeratne, Governor the Central Province states: "With reference to the telephone conversation regarding the above-mentioned matter which appeared in "The Island" of Saturday 9th of January 1999 and my assurance that I would send a letter confirming my telephone conversation, I am sending the following for publication in your esteemed journal. I will be grateful to you if the same publicity that was given to the "Saturday Commentary" on the first page is given to this too. 1. There have not been any complaints hitherto that I was not accessible. I always make it a point to be in Kandy every week and respond to requests for appointments from members of public, public organizations and people's representatives. Either before or after the dissolution of the Central Provincial Council I have ensured timely performance by my Secretariat and there has been no complaint of any undue delays or lapses. This allegation, therefore, is unfounded. 2. The issue of not attending the funeral of a Ven. Nayaka Thero in the hill country has been misinterpreted in the "Saturday Commentary". On this day, Her Excellency the President, Hon. Laksman Kiriella and myself were in the President's Pavilion in Kandy. I had already paid my last respects to the Ven. Nayaka Thero. The question arose as to who was to represent the Government at the funeral and deliver the funeral oration. As I had an unavoidable legal consultation in Colombo to prepare myself to give evidence in Courts, Hon. Laksman Kirielle represented the Government at the funeral. This took place about five months ago in mid August 1998. No issue whatsoever across out of this matter though it has been mentioned in the "Saturday Commentary". 3. The allegation that I am "flirting with the United National Party" is absolutely unfounded, baseless and never raised as an issue. In this connection I should refer to an incident involving the Chairman of the Kandy District UNP Organization, Hon. Al Haj Abdul Cader, M.P., Kandy District. I had authorised use of the Ulapone School premises for a function on 8th November 1998 which was said to be a charitable one connected with his birthday. However, later I was reliably informed that the occasion was going to be used for political ends. I immediately cancelled the permission given and consequently the Hon. Cader filed action against me in the Supreme Court. This was to be supported on the 6th. November 1998. However, in view of the facts revealed in my affidavit, the case was not pursued by the Petitioner's lawyers and my cancellation of the permission was effective. I am compelled to ask the question "Are these the grounds on which the Commentator wishes me to resign my Office as the Governor of the Central Province or am I to presume that there is an aspirant to be my successor behind this? Our columnist notes: (1) Authoritative PA sources which disclosed to this correspondent that Minister and Central Provincial Council members had complained to the President that the Governor was inaccessible. (2) Mr. Tillekeratne confirms that Deputy Foreign Minister Lakshman Kiriella represented the government at the Ven. Nayaka Thero's funeral five months ago. I had correctly stated that it happened after the last Esala Perahera in Kandy. (3) The allegations of ‘flirting with the UNP’ was made by PA sources. Mr. Tillekeratne had explained his position with reqard to that allegation in his reply. While thanking Mr. Tillekeratne for his prompt classification, I wish to add that the allegations were made by members of the PA and not by me. I have quoted authoritative sources disclosing that the President has called for his resignation. The President and her office have so far not denied the story of having called for Mr. Tillekeratne's resignation. Further, Mr. Tillekerathne in his reply has not denied that the President has called for his resignation. Telecom trade unionist complains of assault Police investigating the attack on a Telecom trade unionist said that in a new development, the victim had claimed that one of his attackers resembled a security guard attached to Sri Lanka Telecom office. Premaratna Alwis, the Chairman of the Telecommunication Trade Unions Federation was attacked by two men who had come in a motorcycle to his house in Ganemulla on Saturday evening. The victim has sustained injuries in a scuffle with the attackers, police said. The victim who is recovering from his injuries had earlier said he was unable to identify his attackers. The victim is the present chairman of the union even though he retired from service, police said. The victim had told them at first that he couldnt identify the attackers who were wearing helmets, according to police. Ganemulla police said that they received the complaint around 9.45 p.m. on the day of the attack. The trade unionist was injured when one of the assailants hit him with his revolver. According to the police the attackers had thrown a locally made bomb at Premaratna Alwis’s house before fleeing. (LS) Boat ride ends in tragedy A Police Inspector, a Sergeant and a civilian were drowned when the boat they were travelling in capsized in the Kondawattuwan reservoir last Sunday. They were taking a boat ride with a group of employees from Hardy Institute, when tragedy struck, police said. The two dead policemen had been identified as IP Weragama and Sergeant of Ampara police while the civilian employee of the Hardy Institute who also lost his life was not identified at the time of going to press. The others in the boat had saved their lives by swimming to the shore, police said. Two caught with counterfeit
notes Two Indians who had in their possession of Rs. 630,000 Indian currency suspected to be counterfeit was taken into custody by customs at the BIA on Sunday night. The two suspects who arrived at the airport to board an Air Lanka flight to Madras had with them four bags containing cardamom. The currency worth one million Sri Lankan rupees was found hidden in the bags. Among the notes found, was one with the currency imprint only one side. This gave way to suspicion that all the notes were counterfeit. Customs suspect the notes had been printed in Sri Lanka. The two suspects had claimed that they had been merely asked to take the bags containing the money by a person unknown to them at Moor Street in Colombo, to an acquaintance of theirs in India, Customs said. Assistant Customs Superintendent, Asoka Ratnayake and Tissa Chandrasiri were responsible for the detection. Assistant Customs Superintendent, Nandasiri Wasalathilake and Priyantha Saparamadhu are conducting further investigations in this regard under the direction of Deputy Director of Customs, Kamalasiri and Assistant Customs Superintendent, Charlie Piyasena. Don't give in to PA's
threats, Ranil tells NWP voters "The right to vote is the sovereignty of the people. I and my party are therefore duty bound to safeguard that right and grant the people of the North Western Province a free and fair election" said UNP and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe at the maiden UNP, NWP election rally presided by him at Wennappuwa last Friday. Mr. Wickremasinghe proposed that an election committee consisting of representatives of all political parties contesting the poll should be formed to ensure an independent and fair poll. He further proposed that in addition to the political representatives, the committee should also be represented by a nominee each of the Chief Justice, the law society representative of a professional association. Continuing he said: "On the January 25 the people of North Western Province will have to divide whether they should go towards the "rising side" or the "wanting side" of the son. Four years had elapsed since People's Alliance came into power. While country has gone from bad to worse, cost of living has spiralled sky high, but the income of the people remain the same. There is no law and order in the country. Production in factories have gone down. Agriculture is facing destruction. Economy is in a bad way. Therefore on the 25th a decision has to be taken whether Chandrika and People's Alliance should be voted into power or whether I and my party should be voted into power in the province. It is the intention of the UNP to march forward to the 21st century without dividing the country and by giving people better avenues of income. The UNP has the capability and the efficiency to create more avenues for the people. It is our intention to create an independent police service to maintain a just society. The only consolation available to the youth of this country is the UNP. It is my party, under my leadership which can bring prosperity to this country. I have provided a capable group under the leadership of Mayor Karu Jayasuriya to develop Colombo city. I have given a similar group to Gamini Jayawickrema Perera to develop North Western provincial council area. Gamini Jayawickrame Perera, Asoka Wadigamangawa and R. M. R. Nimal Bandara have made immense sacrifices to organise this group. My gratitude is due to them for these sacrifices". Mr. Wickremasinghe added that Puttalam is a district that has bestowed four Speakers to Parliament. These four Speakers has come from the UNP and the SLFP. But the PA has gifted to Puttalam a person who had been served with 50 warrants. Today he is the symbol of "sovereignty" for the People's Alliance. This election is neither my property nor Chandrika's property. It is the sovereignty of the people of North Western province. I, therefore appeal to the people to vote either UNP, PA, JVP or any other political party. But don't vote for anybody on the basis of threats from them. Nobody has the right to threaten people to vote. If that is PA's 'independence' then the UNP will not allow such 'independence'. In the newspapers last Friday, it was reported that the President had warned this person against whom there are 50 warrants. But within 24 hours of such warning, UNP MP, Gamini Lokuge's vehicle had been shot at. Fortunately, the shots missed its target. But the vehicle following behind was struck by gunfire. In that shooting, three persons were injured. Is this democracy? But we will not allow such type of 'democracy'. The NWP will not allow impersonations. This is the right of the people. They have the right to vote for anybody they favour, he said. "I conducted an independent election along with former President, D. B. Wijetunge. It was so independent, I lost in that election. I have nothing to earn from politics. I entered politics to safeguard the sovereignty of the people. In order to safeguard the interests of those people who exercise their vote on 25th. The UNP has two duties to carry out in this election. First is to safeguard the voters' right and the second is to bring the UNP into power in the NW PC. We will never resort to political thuggery. I have ordered that even if any of our men resorted to such thuggery, to tie him on to a free and inform me. I am prepared to send my representatives for an election committee. Is Chandrika prepared to send her representative? I will sent A. C. S. Hameed and K. N. Choksy to represent the UNP. We expect two ministers from the PA to be nominated. We will meet and discuss on Monday and Tuesday and we will arrive at decisions. This is my challenge. The President must accept this challenge. My representatives are ready. If necessary we will provide parliamentary sanction to this committee. If anybody tries he create political thuggery, go to the police station and make a complaint. If the police fail to entertain the complaint, go to Police Headquarters and make the complaint and send me a copy of it. If any damages were done due to political thuggery, I will arrange to pay compensation when I come to power. The UNP is prepared to take to the streets to safeguard the sovereignty of the people. Let them tear gas us, throw stones or even shoot us. But we will not stop our campaign, Mr. Wickremasinghe warned. The UNP leader said that former President J. R. Jayawardena taught us how to conduct a Satyagraha. Then we went to Attanagalla. Today we are prepared to come to Anamaduwa. If not in Sinhala I will tell in English to Chandrika, "You do your worst, we do our best". General Secretary of the UNP, Gamini Athukorale, former Puttalam district MP, Asoka Wadigamangawa, Nuwara Eliya District MP, Renuka Herath, Puttalam District MP, Festus Perera and several other party members also spoke. Australian tourist robbed An Australian national who was staying in a guest house at Yakdehimulla in Unawatuna was robbed of Rs. 450,000 in cash and personal belongings worth over Rs. 1 million by six youths. A complaint in this regard was made by the victim Russel Parking to Galle police. Sub Inspector Upali Asoka of the Galle Traffic Police who took into custody a youth on suspicion was able to make a breakthrough. Investigations led to the recovery of a T56 rifle and 40 rounds of ammunition at Morawaka. The rifle was reported to have been sold to one of the suspects for Rs. 22,500 by an Army Sergeant attached to the Galkulana Camp in Anuradhapura, police said. Police have rounded up six suspects in this connection. SI Upali Asoka described two of the six suspects as JVP activists. They have now been remanded pending further investigations. Gold plated Buddha statue
seized from house Police seized a valuable gold plated marble statue of Lord Buddha from a house in the hamlet of Muwanpelessa in Hingurakgoda. The ancient statue, one and a half feet in height and 40 kilogrammes in weight, is believed to have been brought from the Maho area. On information that an attempt was being made by some persons to sell a gold plated Buddha statue, a police squad raided the house and found the hidden artefact. Four suspects were arrested and a van used to transport the statue to Hingurakgoda was also taken into custody, police said. Investigators are trying to ascertain the archaeological site it may have been stolen from. In a bid to camouflage the ancient statue had been painted red and grey, but the coating had been chipped off at certain points to prove that it's an original gold plated artefact made of marble, police said. The police raid had taken place at a time when the deal to sell the statue was on the verge of being pushed through, according to police sources. A team led by acting HQI Sumith Karunaratne was instrumental in recovering this valuable statue. UNPers protest against
violence UNPers staged a protest near the Anamaduwa Clock Tower yesterday against the violence in the run up to the North Western Provincial Council (NWPC) election. More than 2000 protesters displaying placards and shouting slogans took part in the protest. Prior to the protest, they held a pooja at the Anamaduwa Aiyanayaka Devalaya and 200 coconuts were dashed there. A strong police contingent was on stand by to provide security. NWPC UNP candidate and the leader of the Puttalam district UNP candidate Asoka Wadigamangawa, parliamentarians Joseph Michael Perera, Gamini Lokuge, Rajitha Senaratne, Mervyn Silva, Vajira Abeywardena and Puttalam district UNP NWPC candidates were also present. Experts accept primary education serves several important purposes — Dy. Education Minister All experts on education do not hesitate to accept that primary education serves several important purposes; for instance, it teaches students basic cognitive skills; it develops attitudes and skills that a child requires to function effectively in modern society, and thereby, it helps to advance nation building. It is believed that quality of primary education in a country needs to be judged by the learning of all its children and the improvement of the quality of primary education. Therefore, means the provision of opportunities for children to complete the primary cycle of learning, having mastered what has been taught, said Prof. W. A. Wiswa Warnapal Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education at the inauguration of the Workshop on the Management of Primary Teachers in South Asia recently. This Workshop on The Management of Primary Teachers’ in South Asia, which seeks to examine the actual conditions of managing the provision of primary teachers in different parts of the world, needs to be concerned with five areas of improvement inputs of necessary for children to improve their learning abilities; methods for improving teachers — their competence in teaching; management requirements for promoting learning; modes of extending effective education to traditionally disadvantaged groups; and the provision of means to expand and enhance the quality education — in other words, means of delivering quality education. In the post colonial period, depending on the nature of the system of education which countries in South Asia inherited at independence, made certain vital changes to improve the quality of education through schemes of professional development of teachers, but these schemes were not interlinked to a comprehensive system of pro professional development of teachers. In the period after independence, countries such as Sri Lanka and India, have adopted policies , programmes and projects with a view to reaching through better administrative and management methods — a satisfactory compromise between the existing teacher provision and the qualitative teaching staff requirements. This in fact is the major problem facing the countries in the region engaged in educational reforms. In this context, Sri Lankan educational reforms need to pay special attention to the issues of teacher training, recruitment and deployment policies. In the past, especially in relation to these, no proper policy positions were adopted and it was primarily due to the absence of comprehensive structural changes in the entire system of education. It is now realized that adhoc changes, without proper planning may not serve the purpose in an highly technological-oriented world. I, therefore, commend the International Intitute of Educational Planning for taking steps to bringing together policy-makers, senior officials and reserchers from India, Nepal, Pa3kistan and Sri Lanka to examine the issues relating to planning and administration of education in general and the teaching staff in particular. This kind of sub regional Workshop with a focus on sub-regional issues, would provide an opportunity for the policy makers to exchange knowledge and experience on matters pertaining to primary teacher provision in South Asia. It would give the key-actors to find ways and means of improving management techniques in the sphere of primary education in this part of the world. He said that a sound programme of professional education of teachers is essential for the qualitative improvement of education. From the very inception, the perception on the Sri Lankan teacher was that of a non-professional man; it was viewed as a job opportunity and this very attitude prevented him from professionalism that is unique to the teacher. In the ancient tradition, the teacher, because of his social prestige in the community, commanded both respectability and wisdom. This kind of acceptance later disappeared from the educational scene with the expansion in the members of teachers in the profession. In the given context where special achievements have to be counter-balanced with progress in human values, teacher education has now assumed a great social importance. What is teacher education? It is that knowledge skill which is relevant to the life of teacher as a teacher. A course in teacher education should make an attempt to re-shape the attitudes, re-model the habits and in a way re-constitute the-personality of the teacher. He needs to be converted into an intellectually committed man to the profession, whose ethics he must learn to perfect and pursue with dedication. Any teacher education programme must remain close to the society, and in the Indian context, Kothari Commission pointed out that the teacher education system in India suffered from three types of isolation; * isolation from University life; Most importantly, it suffered from the isolation from society, and this isolation, in the view of Kothari Commission, makes teacher education incomplete, valueless and worthless in a developing country which is in the perpetual search for quality education. In Sri Lanka - I think that this is common to all countries in the region - an average teacher seeks immediate and short-term goal of a job and employment but does not think of his real professional career and contribution to the community. He said that he would like to devote my attention to a quotation from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who, delivering the Moulana Azad Lecture in 1959, stated the following: "Can we combine the progress of science and technology with the progress of the mind and spirit also? We cannot be untrue to science because that represents the basic fact of life today. Still less can we be untrue to those essential principles for which India has stood in the past throughout the ages. Let us then preserve our path to industrial progress with all our strength and, vigour and at the same time remember that nutrial riches without toleration and compassion and wisdom may will turn to dust and ashes ".His view was that teacher education must be based on balanced education where both spirituality and science would become equally important. Muslims will not betray their compatriots — Rauf Hakeem BADULLA: Muslims in the country will not betray the Sinhala people or the Sinhala Buddhists or Tamils, Hindus with whom they have lived peacefully for several centuries said Deputy Chairman, Parliament Committee Council and Senior Vice President, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Rauf Hakeem at the annual prize giving of Gurutalawa Darul Hikma Ahdiya Muslim Vidyalaya held recently. Mr. Rauf Hakeem also said that the Arabs received the honour of introducing Sri Lanka to the world in the past while the Portuguese and Dutch came to Sri Lanka as foes. But the Arabs always tried to establish themselves through continuous trade activities. When the Sinhalese kings were engaged in battles with the Portuguese and Dutch, the Muslim people even assisted the Sinhalese kings. As a result, those invaders harassed the Muslims. He also said that Muslim leaders such as Sir Razeek Fareed, T. B. Jayah, and Baduideen Mahmud had rendered a great service to all communities in this country. Those leaders especially developed the educational activities of the Muslim children. Now we have to think of ways and means of meeting the challenges of the new millennium. We should implement a vocational education for the welfare of the future younger generation. Today, even graduates launch picketing campaigns and sathyagraha campaigns asking the government for jobs. Every student’s ambition is to obtain a university education. But in future, any government would not be able to solve the unemployment problem. Messrs W. Premadasa, Secretary to the Uva Province Governor, R. K. Abeysekera, Welimada SLFP Organiser and Opposition leader, Welimada PS, Bazeer Niyasdeen, Administrative Secretary, SLMC, Moulavi Mohammed Sammi, Principal Darul Hikma Ahdiya Vidyalaya, PS member H. M. Sideeq, Moulavi Alhaj H. M. Abair, A. C. Fareen and Uva Province Muslim Cultural Officer Mohamed Hasanar also spoke. IM confers ‘Companionship’ awards The Institute of Management (IM) celebrated its 50th year in 1997, having commenced in 1947 as the British Institute of Management. The IM is the largest broadly based management institute with over 80,000 individual members and 600 corporate partners in 143 countries. Annually the Institute of Management UK recognises and awards the highest title of ‘Companionship’ to those who have made significant contributions to the development of management. For the first time in Sri Lanka ‘Companionship’ awards are being conferred on Mr. Rienzie T. Wijetilleke — Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Hatton National Bank and Mr. Ranjith Fernando, Director/General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of the National Development Bank, in recognition of their contribution to the banking industry in the development of management. The ‘Companionship’ awards will be conferred on Mr. Wijetilleke and Mr. Fernando by Mr. David R. Anderson — the Director Membership of the Institute of Management UK at a felicitation dinner organized in honour of Mr. Anderson's visit at the Trans Asia Hotel today (11). The British High Commissioner David Tatham and Ms. Susan Maingay will grace the occasion among other guests. |
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