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Sri Lanka: The Military Expansion into Education

12 February 2013

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Economic and Political Weekly, Vol - XLVIII No. 07, February 16, 2013

by Shamala Kumar

Shamala Kumar (kumar.shamala@gmail.com) is a member of the Peradeniya University Agriculture Teachers’ Association and University Teachers for Democracy and Dialogue (UT4DD).

Militarisation, or securitisation, in Sri Lanka is not necessarily restricted to the formal military structure; its orientation is far more pervasive, as can be evidenced in the recent developments in the education sphere. Already existing imbalances and practices in the education sector have been exacerbated by the military ideology imposed upon it by the Sri Lankan government.

Little has been done to contain the bloated military structure in Sri Lanka even though over three years have passed since the government formally declared victory in the 30 years of civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist group which fought for a Tamil homeland in the North and East of the island. In fact, militarisation is a frequent charge made against the government today. The repressive structures that make institutions vulnerable to militarisation, however, emerged far earlier than this government and have been a conduit for militarised processes to operate. Within higher education, the state’s administrative processes, and student and staff hierarchies and actions reinforce these repressive structures. This article explores the nature of militarisation and forms of repression in the educational sector of Sri Lanka in recent years, with a special focus on higher education.

Generally, the country has experienced a growth in the military apparatus through the progression of three decades of war and over successive governments. In the 1980s, at the war’s inception, the military consisted of 30,000 personnel. Now, despite the no-war situation, this figure has ballooned into hundreds of thousands.1 While the military’s involvement in active combat is now minimal, their presence has expanded to various other activities such as the maintenance of tourist destinations, mega construction projects, agricultural projects, vegetable stalls and city beautification. The military of the post-war era is a very different entity to its war-time, combat-intensive counterpart. Today, with escalating trends born years earlier in the North and East of the country during times of war, the military is becoming increasingly embedded into society. It seems to have penetrated many facets of civilian life, in all regions of the country, and become an integral part of civil life.

Education structures in Sri Lanka have succumbed to such penetration as well. They have blurred distinctions between institutes of education and defence and have supported military-sponsored educational initiatives while neglecting others. For instance, funding cuts have crippled the public school system, but a resource-rich, state-of-the-art school for officers of the armed forces, The Defence Services School, was recently opened.2 Located in Colombo, its website states that plans are underway to establish satellite schools in other regions, and touts it as a new experimental model for a refurbished national school system of the future. Just as this school illustrates how funding privileges military endeavours, it also shows how military access to educational services is also privileged.

Children of military personnel even enjoy better and easier access to the national school networks through special admission slots. Because of Sri Lanka’s skewed school system, which gives 80% of its funding to approximately 350 schools and the remaining 20% for the 9,000 odd provincial schools, these privileges are especially significant.3 While this education system needs a complete overhaul, because of the extent to which it privileges the wealthy and urban, of particular relevance to this essay is the nature of the privilege it grants the military. Many other military-education collaborations have recently been publicised, which have formalised the military’s involvement with educational establishments, such as the induction of 23 principals to the rank of brevet colonels.4 Last year’s military camp-based leadership training programme to new entrants to universities and the hiring of a security agency composed of ex-military personnel are other such initiatives.

The conspicuous presence of military vehicles and personnel at universities, and smaller, less publicised events such as military propaganda seminars organised at the Uva Wellassa University5 have further embedded the military within the educational system. Just as the military has entered public higher educational institutes, public higher education has entered military institutes. The Kothalawala Defence Academy, created in the 1980s to train military officers, has now been converted into a university (Kothalawala Defence University, KDU) and offers degrees in a range of courses, some of which are broader than defence, such as management and language studies. Further, this new university, as of 2012, provides programmes for not simply the military but also to the larger public.6 As with The Defence School, KDU holds a privileged position in the dispersion of funds. While public universities are seriously under-funded, the military carders teaching at KDU are better compensated and resourced, with special funds for foreign travel, vehicles, support staff, and other facilities.7

Thus, as the roles of military and educational institutes blur, the resources for the military, as a privileged category have expanded. Yet, the manner in which the military is able to infiltrate the educational sector and justify a privileged position in society requires the acceptance of the military structure, ideology, competence to disperse other non-military services and their entitlement to resources.
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FULL TEXT HERE: http://www.epw.in/militarisation-sri-lanka/military-expansion-education.html

P.S.

The above is reproduced here from Economic and Political Weekly for educational and non commercial use.