Although the government wouldn’t hinder INGO/NGOs inquiring into public sector corruption and making their recommendations public, the administration isn’t bound to implement them, Education Minister Susil Premajayantha Indicated yesterday. The latest case in point is the 83-page research report ‘Corruption in Education in Sri Lanka’ released by the Transparency International Sri Lanka on July 7 at a seminar held at Hotel Renuka.

J. C. Weliamuna, Executive Director of TISL at the launch of the report said that this would be the first in a series of studies to be published over the next year. He thanked Nimal Bandara, Secretary, Ministry of Education and S. U. Wijerathne, Additional Secretary Policy and Planning also of the Ministry of Education for supporting the research spearheaded by Prof. Amarasiri de Silva of the University of Peradeniya, while appreciating the opportunity given them to share the findings with the Ministry.

According to Weliamuna, Prof. Amarasiri’s team had carried out the research between May to October 2008.

The Education Minister yesterday said that though the TISL had talked to both Education Secretary and Additional Secretary their findings couldn’t be accepted. Responding to our queries, an irate minister said though he wouldn’t deny shortcomings in the system, the TISL had highly exaggerated them. Premjayanth regretted that the government hadn’t so far taken any tangible action to thwart INGO/NGOs undermining the country. He said though he wouldn’t take the report seriously he would vigorously oppose efforts to make money at Sri Lanka’s expense.

Recalling another TISL research project ‘In Pursuit of "Absolute Integrity" - Identifying Causes for Police Corruption’ carried out at a cost of USD 78,000 a few years ago, the minister said that it would be interesting to inquire into all ‘grandiose’ studies undertaken by various people. The survey on police conducted on an agreement between the TISL and the police April 2004-June 2006 period had been funded to the tune of USD 78, 879.00 by the Norwegian Agency for Development Corporation.

Education Secretary Bandara, too, said that though he wouldn’t deny shortcomings in the education system, it was grossly unfair that findings of a survey had been released without their comments. He told The Island that his participation at a TISL seminar shouldn’t be in anyway considered endorsement of Prof. Amarasiri de Silva’s research. "We have already taken up this issue with the TISL," he said.

According to Wijerathne, the TISL had launched the survey weeks before it contacted the Education Ministry regarding the project. "We facilitated their project by organising a meeting between the research team and Provincial Directors of Education following a regular monthly meeting at Isurupaya," he said.

Wijerathne emphasised that the education ministry had absolutely no say in working out the methodology in the survey at issue or had anything to do with the research. Wijerathne recalled that Joseph Stalin, President of the Jathika Guru Sangamaya, too, had pointed out at the launch of the project that there was nothing new in the TISL findings.

Weliamuna told The Island that their findings would help policy makers to address some of the crucial issues. Responding to our queries, he said that the findings and their recommendations would definitely help the government rectify the shortcomings in some vital areas in the education sector. Asked whether the book was available at bookshops, he said that it was not for sale but an adequate number of copies had been printed to be made available for policy makers, media and other interested parties. He said that the cost of the project couldn’t be given off.

The TISL in a report posted on its website said that a total of USD 652,815.50 had been received from Swedish International Development Agency and Norad in support of their strategic plan for 2007-2011. It had also received Rs. 5, 550,000 from (Helvetas, Sri Lanka) and Rs. 800,000 (FES) in support of the overall plan.