නිදහසේ වාන් දොර ඇරීම
A fundamental change in the political system is essential to any good forward movement for the society and the country — and without overcoming the challenge Prabhakaran’s movement posed to the state, there was no possibility of making one. That challenge was itself something this corrupt political system enlarged: there was a problem before it, and this system turned it into a tangle that could not easily be settled.
පෞද්ගලික වෛද්ය විද්යාල ප්රශ්නය ගැන වැඩිදුරටත්
Replying to a Peradeniya medical student who objected to his earlier column, Ivan asks why
selling medical services is acceptable if selling medical education is not, and sets World
Health Organization figures for doctors, nurses and pharmacists per ten thousand people
against those of Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Korea and Europe. Two per cent of Sri Lankan
children who start school reach a degree, against forty in Korea; the state holds a monopoly
on universities it cannot fund, and twenty-two billion rupees a year leaves the country with
the students it turns away.
පෞද්ගලික වෛද්ය විද්යාලයක් ආරම්භ කිරීම හොඳ ද නරකද?
This article examines the controversy surrounding the government’s decision to allow the establishment of a private medical college by Dr. Neville Fernando. Countering the protests of student unions, the author argues that breaking the state monopoly on higher education is a progressive necessity. The piece highlights the severe shortage of state university placements, the massive outflow of national wealth to foreign universities, and the urgent need for a properly regulated private higher education sector.