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The recent clash between the students at the Jaffna University
has shown the increasing need to enhance people-to-people engagement to
develop greater understanding and sensitivity to the concerns of each
ethnic and religious community, while also understanding the reasons for
the frustration of the students.
More readings about Jaffna University>>>
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The recent clash between the students at the Jaffna University
has shown the increasing need to enhance people-to-people engagement to
develop greater understanding and sensitivity to the concerns of each
ethnic and religious community, while also understanding the reasons for
the frustration of the students.
“While the government, Tamil parties and liberal academics are having
a positive rapport at the highest levels, this relationship of trust
and cooperation has yet to permeate the student consciousness. This
problem is likely to exist at the larger community level also. There is a
need for a more concerted effort to be made for people-to-people
engagement to develop greater understanding and sensitivity to the
concerns of each ethnic and religious community,” the National peace
Council (NPC) said.
The NPC also said that it is necessary for the government and
university administration to keep reasonable ethnic ratios in mind when
allocating places for students to universities in different parts of the
country.
Emphasizing its point further, NPC noted that the Jaffna clash
follows a clash March this year between Tamil and Sinhalese university
students in the Trincomalee campus over an incident of ragging.
“The high proportion of Sinhalese amounting to between 60 to 80
percent of the student body in some of the university faculties in the
North and East has caused a feeling of being under pressure by the
influx of Sinhalese students in traditionally Tamil (and Muslim) areas,”
the statement said.
According to NPC, the changed ethnic composition of the student body
is invariably accompanied by a change in the administrative composition
of the university system. “Both these factors may be viewed with anxiety
by the Tamil and Muslim communities in the North and East who are
seeking to protect their identity not least in the areas in which they
are a majority,” the statement added. (Colombo Telegraph)
More readings about Jaffna University>>>
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