Sectoral committee suggests conversion into public-private institute

The Sectoral Oversight Committee on Education and Human Resource Development has discussed the conversion of the Shariya University in Batticaloa into a public-private institution with the university management yesterday.

The members of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Education and Human Resource Development include Professor Ashu Marasinghe, Rohini Kumari Wijeratne and S. Viyalendran, who all visited the university yesterday and had made this suggestion after meeting the university management.

One of the three members who visited the university said they discussed the possibility of converting the university into a public-private institution and not to carry out courses based on any particular religion.

“We discussed the introduction of various new courses in this university with the management and they suggested courses such as IT and engineering. We proposed courses such as global terrorism and to obtain assistance of the Kotelawala Defence University to introduce such courses,” a member said.

When asked whether the university management agreed to convert the university into a public- private institution, the member of the oversight committee said they did not give them an official proposal. He said an official proposal will be presented to parliament shortly. (Yohan Perera)