By Lahiru Pothmulla  Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Batticaloa University should be absorbed to the national university system and utilized as a national asset without being abandoned, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said. 

President Rajapaksa said this at a meeting held with Education and Higher Education Ministers and officials of the education sector at the Presidential Secretariat last morning.   
According to the President’s Media, the President has said the time has come to allow universities to craft diploma programmes based on latest requirements of the country and that the universities should be encouraged to do this. Measures should be taken to uplift the education sector leaving behind false agendas,” he said.   

At the meeting, it was discussed to open up universities covering all districts across the country. The President pointed out the necessity to look into the possibility of renovating abandoned buildings located at larger plots of land in order to convert them into universities.   

President Rajapaksa reiterated the need to move away from the examination-centric education system and measures to expedite action laid down in his manifesto to improve the education sector.   

He highlighted the importance of leaving the decision making right to the educationists in the education sector instead of to politicians.   Meanwhile, he said unemployed undergraduates should be trained to be recruited at institutions where there are vacancies.  Commenting on the students who sat for the A/L examination 2018, the President said immediate action should be taken to enrol them to universities. Action should also be taken to release results of the 2019 AL exam and to enrol the students who passed the exam at universities immediately.