Leadership training or training to follow the leader?
The controversial leadership training programme for university entrants is on full swing in spite of dissenting views and opinions. Brushing aside all charges that the programme, initiated by the Ministry of Higher Education and Defence Ministry will further, and maybe forcibly, militarise Sri Lankan society, the first training module was flagged off in May.
Several worrying aspects of the programme was pointed out this week by Friday Forum, an informal group of individuals that talks about democracy and pluralism.
“The curriculum of the training programme obtained by the Friday Forum after some effort reveals extremely problematic aspects. No mention is made of the authority responsible for the curriculum but a prominent photograph of the Defence Secretary on the cover of the study guide suggests authorship by the Defence establishment. The predominant focus is on instilling discipline and self-confidence through military regimentation including a five-kilometre walk to be completed in 45 minutes irrespective of individual physical fitness or the widely disparate facilities for sports and physical training in the schools from which the students come,” the Forum said in a statement.
The defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s younger brother and is easily among the two most powerful men in the country.
While technically, the President controls of the defence portfolio, it’s Gotabhaya who has unfettered authority over security-related issues – and in this, it seems, a decisive say in what young students should study.
According to the Friday Forum, another problematic aspect of the course is the module on history and national heritage and its exclusive focus on the majority community.
“National heritage focuses exclusively on prominent cultural symbols of the majority Sinhala community such as Sigiriya, the Temple of the Tooth and the Aukana Buddha statue with none from other communities. Subjecting new university entrants who may well become future leaders of this country to a course which focuses exclusively on the majority community, undermines all the official statements on national reconciliation after three decades of civil strife. If this is an officially sanctioned method of national reconciliation what hopes do we have for a peaceful conflict free future in this country?” the Forum’s statement asked.
I’ve only mentioned two problematic points from the several that the Forum raised. But these two points are disturbing enough. The first one focuses on what has become a norm in the Sri Lankan polity – put the spotlight on the ruling family. Be it Mahinda Chintanaya, or what the government’s policy doctrine is know as, or name stadiums after the President or print currency notes with his photo, there is worrying trend to blitzkrieg the Lankan population with images and words about the ruling family. If his brother is having some fun, why should Gotabhaya miss out?
Secondly, to focus only on one community in history is manipulating it. Though I haven’t seen the history module, it’s clear from Friday Forum’s statement that the module will far from help in reconciling the country emerging from years of civil war.
Hindustan Times


Satish Chandra Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 5:42 pm
RAW is removing my posted comments. The content above is the second part of a comment posted in two parts because of its length. The first part, necessary to understand the second part, has been removed by RAW. In its place, see my blog titled ‘Nuclear Supremacy for India Over U. S.’ which can be found by a Yahoo search with the title.
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