By Hiranyada Dewasiri
Established in 1953, Devi Balika Vidyalaya (DBV) Colombo 8 is a popular girls school in Sri Lanka that admits top achievers at the Grade Five Scholarship Examination and GCE Ordinary Level (O/L) exam based purely on merit. Recently, the Ministry of Education revealed a move to conjoin the 4.5 acre plot of land of the Sri Wijayarama Maha Vidyalaya in Udahamulla to DBV in a bid to, as claimed by the Ministry, increase the number of classes in the DBV Advanced Level (A/L) Science stream to allow more students to be admitted to the school. Ministry of Education Secretary Prof. Kapila Perera also told The Morning that current students of the Sri Wijayarama MV would be admitted to the Christian Missionary School (C.M.S) in Nawala which is a national school.
Opposing this attempt is the Devi Balika Vidyalaya Surakime Sanvidanaya (DBVSS), which claims that the plans to cojoin Sri Wijayarama MV and DBV lack clarity, as they have been receiving contradictory information about it. They also claim that there could be a hidden intention to relocate DBV by moving the school from its present premises in order to free that land, which is at a central location in Colombo. We spoke to DBVSS President Dr. Dayani Panagoda on why their organisation is against this move and what their concerns about this move are.
Following are excerpts from the interview:
Ministry of Education Secretary Prof. Perera says that only new classes for the A/L Science stream will begin in Udahamulla and that no classes in Colombo 8 would be moved to that location. Are you against this? If so, why?
[caption id="attachment_136940" align="alignright" width="196"]
Dayani Panagoda[/caption]
We have no information on the Ministry of Education’s plans and we see a disconnect between the administrative letters and what is verbally expressed, and what is in cabinet papers and what is published in newspapers.
The Principal of DBV says that the classes that are to start in the Sri Wijayarama MV Udahamulla premises are for a new stream and that it is to conduct online education for new students who will be admitted to DBV. It is to take in another 200 students for the Biology and Mathematics streams for A/L classes in addition to the 200 students the school is already admitting.
Minister of Education Prof. G.L. Peiris says that this is a pilot project and that there was research conducted, speaking to parents who lived around the school, which revealed that more students could be accommodated to DBV. But DBV is not a school that admits students in the vicinity. It admits students for grade six based on the Grade Five Scholarship Examination and for A/Ls based on students’ O/L results. When I inquired from the Governor of the Western Province (WP) regarding this, he said that all he received was a letter requesting for Sri Wijayarama MV to be upgraded to a national school. He said that he isn’t aware of any connection to DBV.
So there are many contradictory statements like this. It is not clear as to what is going on.
Since different plans have been expressed, are there any of these plans that you specifically agree or disagree with as an organisation?
Since we do not know of any plans, how can we agree or disagree? It is true that we are not the PPA (Past Pupils Association). But since we have shown our interest, don’t you think that it is their responsibility if they are not hiding anything to call us for a meeting and lay out the plans clearly? We asked what the project plan is and whether it could be shared with us. No project proposal has been shared with the DBV PPA.
A matter such as this should not just be discussed within the PPA committee. It should be discussed at a general meeting. The PPA is headed by the present Principal of DBV and she has not been formally provided any of this information. Then we asked for a special general meeting, which we have not received yet. We heard that even the PPA was asked to take the decision not based on the information but based on the word of the Principal. But DBV does not have such a culture. We respect our principals but just because she has been in the school for 10 years and has done so much for the school, that does not mean that we have to agree with everything (she says). We need to evaluate what is good and what isn’t.
Although the school Principal and (Education) Ministry Secretary Prof. Perera are vouching that nothing would happen, they are both administrative officers. They may come and go and letters issued by them would be invalid if the official that replaces them decides to overturn it. The principal and those who come after the current officials will decide to start moving sections of the school to this new location.
There is the involvement of private donors and entities in this project. Do you have any concerns about that?
In Sri Lanka, private donations also play a role in the running of schools. However, when a donation is made, it should come through the Ministry, and the Ministry should do what is necessary. But we see donors visiting these schools with people who have political connections and politicians, and this (situation) looks like it has a political agenda behind it. If there is no such agenda, show us facts, show us the basis upon which DBV was selected for this. The principal says that she wanted it and that she has been discussing this for a long time; MP Madhura Vithanage says that it was his idea; Ministry of Education Secretary Prof. Perera said that it is his vision that schools like DBV and Visakha Vidyalaya should start branches; they say that the current plans for DBV is in accordance with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s vision in “Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour”. I have thoroughly studied that and that is a policy different to these plans. These are what is included in a prominent businessman’s 2030 policy. Why does the Ministry have to implement that businessman’s vision for DBV and not (what is in) the Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour document? There was a video uploaded by a private tuition master promoting this project. If this is a ministry project, why can’t they upload it on their website? Why is a tuition master doing this?
Is your organisation of the position that there are hidden intentions behind this project?
There are hidden intentions behind this and there is no transparency. If this is a pilot project, then they should be very transparent and elaborate on how new students will be admitted to DBV. It is a school that admits students on a merit basis regardless of their financial backgrounds. But without clarity on the matter, we wouldn’t know who would be admitted to the school. The Principal also mentions a new stream. Where does this new stream come from? It has to be introduced by the National Institute of Education, which then has to come through the Ministry of Education; and few schools should pilot it, not just one. There are about a 1,000 schools to be upgraded and there are so many schools in this country. When something is tested, scientifically, you have to have at least 30% of sampling. How can the success be judged when a pilot is done alone in one girls’ school? Why did it start from only Devi Balika? They say that it is a brand. But many other schools have their brand as well. If there is a proper transparent procedure, the letter sent to the WP Governor should clearly state why they want the school to be upgraded to a national school. If the education to be given to these new students is to be conducted online, you don’t have to expand the premises for that. Here (DBV), we have 4.5 acres, and there (Sri Wijayarama MV) also there’s 4.5 acres. It could also be that the Principal has said that she will only support the plans if that same amount of land is given for the school. This 4.5 acre land with the Colombo Golf Club in the vicinity cannot be sold for (only) Rs. 100 million, which is the donation being offered by the aforementioned businessman’s foundation.
Sri Wijayarama MV is located about 10 km away from the DBV Colombo 8 premises. Do you have concerns about how the school is going to be administered?
Recently, there was a radio show where the DBV Principal asked the matter to be left for her to sort out because she is a qualified administrator and that we need not worry. But we do need to worry. How can you get students to another school under the name of our school? There was another video where she said that there would be a Deputy Principal and an Additional Principal. She also said that she would transport people between the two schools through a shuttle service through the train track. In a country like this, would you think of improving a rail track to shuttle children? This seems like a long-term plan. If it is a policy action, all stakeholders including the zonal education offices, should be aware of this. But the Minister himself acknowledged in Parliament that this is a pilot project and that there is no such policy. If you are piloting something you should have a plan, a timeline, and what to do in case of failure and how to mitigate it.
Is your organisation against the acquisition of Sri Wijayarama MV by DBV?
We are against the acquiring of this land because we feel for that school and the neighbourhood. We have met the PPA of Sri Wijayarama MV and they have their stories. One boy from the school said that 17 members of his family are from that school. He is asking where to send his children now. These are community schools that should have been developed. In the process of turning Sri Wijayarama MV into a national school, it is to lose its name and also its connection to the neighbourhood. Those who come to this school are from the radius, unlike Devi Balika. What happens to them is unclear. The businessman’s foundation has offered to give them transport to school for two years. What happens after those two years? It is a carrot (being dangled). The whole community loses their access to education; their right to education. If they said that the DBV primary school would be opened there, I wouldn’t have said anything because then the children from the neighbourhood could have gone to this school, which is good. But DBV started a primary school once, and it was a failure.
What is the solution you propose to this problem of DBV needing to accommodate more students?
DBV is not the only school that has such a high demand. The DBV Deputy Principal said that this is an attempt to match the supply to the demand. Is education a commodity to work on demand and supply? It is the bitter truth that only the best of the best gets to go to schools like Visakha, Devi Balika, Ananda, and Royal. This is why we agree with the President’s vision. The President proposed to develop clusters, to develop upper schools, which is also the idea behind the Mahinda Rajapaksa College in Homagama. You make other schools popular so that other children get better chances of studying and receiving university entrance. Something certain authorities always say is that this (cojoining the schools) is the order of the President, which I highly doubt. The President has ordered to develop all schools and not to close down any schools. Sri Wijayarama MV is being called a school that is closing down and we are trying to acquire it. I want to ask what the respective governments were doing all these years if these schools are going to be closed down. It is also a school where students from other schools came to in the past? If our Principal is so good, why won’t she go to Udahamulla and develop that school? She has been here for 12 years and is violating the government circular which says that a principal or a teacher should not be at a school for more than 10 years. One of the other solutions proposed is to develop the buildings in the Colombo 8 premises to accommodate more students. Some say that this cannot be done. But we also have structural engineers and we have also studied it and there are spaces that can be developed. But if it is online education that is to be provided to these new students, you don’t need too many classrooms for that. Students can stay at home and learn. What is the purpose of introducing something like that to a school which is already producing good results? We are not selfishly saying that DBV should not take more students. But the results go up when a school has a manageable number of students.
Dayani Panagoda[/caption]
We have no information on the Ministry of Education’s plans and we see a disconnect between the administrative letters and what is verbally expressed, and what is in cabinet papers and what is published in newspapers.
The Principal of DBV says that the classes that are to start in the Sri Wijayarama MV Udahamulla premises are for a new stream and that it is to conduct online education for new students who will be admitted to DBV. It is to take in another 200 students for the Biology and Mathematics streams for A/L classes in addition to the 200 students the school is already admitting.
Minister of Education Prof. G.L. Peiris says that this is a pilot project and that there was research conducted, speaking to parents who lived around the school, which revealed that more students could be accommodated to DBV. But DBV is not a school that admits students in the vicinity. It admits students for grade six based on the Grade Five Scholarship Examination and for A/Ls based on students’ O/L results. When I inquired from the Governor of the Western Province (WP) regarding this, he said that all he received was a letter requesting for Sri Wijayarama MV to be upgraded to a national school. He said that he isn’t aware of any connection to DBV.
So there are many contradictory statements like this. It is not clear as to what is going on.
Since different plans have been expressed, are there any of these plans that you specifically agree or disagree with as an organisation?
Since we do not know of any plans, how can we agree or disagree? It is true that we are not the PPA (Past Pupils Association). But since we have shown our interest, don’t you think that it is their responsibility if they are not hiding anything to call us for a meeting and lay out the plans clearly? We asked what the project plan is and whether it could be shared with us. No project proposal has been shared with the DBV PPA.
A matter such as this should not just be discussed within the PPA committee. It should be discussed at a general meeting. The PPA is headed by the present Principal of DBV and she has not been formally provided any of this information. Then we asked for a special general meeting, which we have not received yet. We heard that even the PPA was asked to take the decision not based on the information but based on the word of the Principal. But DBV does not have such a culture. We respect our principals but just because she has been in the school for 10 years and has done so much for the school, that does not mean that we have to agree with everything (she says). We need to evaluate what is good and what isn’t.
Although the school Principal and (Education) Ministry Secretary Prof. Perera are vouching that nothing would happen, they are both administrative officers. They may come and go and letters issued by them would be invalid if the official that replaces them decides to overturn it. The principal and those who come after the current officials will decide to start moving sections of the school to this new location.
There is the involvement of private donors and entities in this project. Do you have any concerns about that?
In Sri Lanka, private donations also play a role in the running of schools. However, when a donation is made, it should come through the Ministry, and the Ministry should do what is necessary. But we see donors visiting these schools with people who have political connections and politicians, and this (situation) looks like it has a political agenda behind it. If there is no such agenda, show us facts, show us the basis upon which DBV was selected for this. The principal says that she wanted it and that she has been discussing this for a long time; MP Madhura Vithanage says that it was his idea; Ministry of Education Secretary Prof. Perera said that it is his vision that schools like DBV and Visakha Vidyalaya should start branches; they say that the current plans for DBV is in accordance with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s vision in “Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour”. I have thoroughly studied that and that is a policy different to these plans. These are what is included in a prominent businessman’s 2030 policy. Why does the Ministry have to implement that businessman’s vision for DBV and not (what is in) the Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour document? There was a video uploaded by a private tuition master promoting this project. If this is a ministry project, why can’t they upload it on their website? Why is a tuition master doing this?
Is your organisation of the position that there are hidden intentions behind this project?
There are hidden intentions behind this and there is no transparency. If this is a pilot project, then they should be very transparent and elaborate on how new students will be admitted to DBV. It is a school that admits students on a merit basis regardless of their financial backgrounds. But without clarity on the matter, we wouldn’t know who would be admitted to the school. The Principal also mentions a new stream. Where does this new stream come from? It has to be introduced by the National Institute of Education, which then has to come through the Ministry of Education; and few schools should pilot it, not just one. There are about a 1,000 schools to be upgraded and there are so many schools in this country. When something is tested, scientifically, you have to have at least 30% of sampling. How can the success be judged when a pilot is done alone in one girls’ school? Why did it start from only Devi Balika? They say that it is a brand. But many other schools have their brand as well. If there is a proper transparent procedure, the letter sent to the WP Governor should clearly state why they want the school to be upgraded to a national school. If the education to be given to these new students is to be conducted online, you don’t have to expand the premises for that. Here (DBV), we have 4.5 acres, and there (Sri Wijayarama MV) also there’s 4.5 acres. It could also be that the Principal has said that she will only support the plans if that same amount of land is given for the school. This 4.5 acre land with the Colombo Golf Club in the vicinity cannot be sold for (only) Rs. 100 million, which is the donation being offered by the aforementioned businessman’s foundation.
Sri Wijayarama MV is located about 10 km away from the DBV Colombo 8 premises. Do you have concerns about how the school is going to be administered?
Recently, there was a radio show where the DBV Principal asked the matter to be left for her to sort out because she is a qualified administrator and that we need not worry. But we do need to worry. How can you get students to another school under the name of our school? There was another video where she said that there would be a Deputy Principal and an Additional Principal. She also said that she would transport people between the two schools through a shuttle service through the train track. In a country like this, would you think of improving a rail track to shuttle children? This seems like a long-term plan. If it is a policy action, all stakeholders including the zonal education offices, should be aware of this. But the Minister himself acknowledged in Parliament that this is a pilot project and that there is no such policy. If you are piloting something you should have a plan, a timeline, and what to do in case of failure and how to mitigate it.
Is your organisation against the acquisition of Sri Wijayarama MV by DBV?
We are against the acquiring of this land because we feel for that school and the neighbourhood. We have met the PPA of Sri Wijayarama MV and they have their stories. One boy from the school said that 17 members of his family are from that school. He is asking where to send his children now. These are community schools that should have been developed. In the process of turning Sri Wijayarama MV into a national school, it is to lose its name and also its connection to the neighbourhood. Those who come to this school are from the radius, unlike Devi Balika. What happens to them is unclear. The businessman’s foundation has offered to give them transport to school for two years. What happens after those two years? It is a carrot (being dangled). The whole community loses their access to education; their right to education. If they said that the DBV primary school would be opened there, I wouldn’t have said anything because then the children from the neighbourhood could have gone to this school, which is good. But DBV started a primary school once, and it was a failure.
What is the solution you propose to this problem of DBV needing to accommodate more students?
DBV is not the only school that has such a high demand. The DBV Deputy Principal said that this is an attempt to match the supply to the demand. Is education a commodity to work on demand and supply? It is the bitter truth that only the best of the best gets to go to schools like Visakha, Devi Balika, Ananda, and Royal. This is why we agree with the President’s vision. The President proposed to develop clusters, to develop upper schools, which is also the idea behind the Mahinda Rajapaksa College in Homagama. You make other schools popular so that other children get better chances of studying and receiving university entrance. Something certain authorities always say is that this (cojoining the schools) is the order of the President, which I highly doubt. The President has ordered to develop all schools and not to close down any schools. Sri Wijayarama MV is being called a school that is closing down and we are trying to acquire it. I want to ask what the respective governments were doing all these years if these schools are going to be closed down. It is also a school where students from other schools came to in the past? If our Principal is so good, why won’t she go to Udahamulla and develop that school? She has been here for 12 years and is violating the government circular which says that a principal or a teacher should not be at a school for more than 10 years. One of the other solutions proposed is to develop the buildings in the Colombo 8 premises to accommodate more students. Some say that this cannot be done. But we also have structural engineers and we have also studied it and there are spaces that can be developed. But if it is online education that is to be provided to these new students, you don’t need too many classrooms for that. Students can stay at home and learn. What is the purpose of introducing something like that to a school which is already producing good results? We are not selfishly saying that DBV should not take more students. But the results go up when a school has a manageable number of students.