Batticaloa Campus will be acquired soon: GL

• We increased the intake to 40,000 this year. Therefore Batticaloa Campus will be used in line with this policy

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana   

The Batticaloa Campus which was in the centre of controversy after the Easter Sunday attacks in 2019 will be acquired by the government shortly, Minister of Education Professor G.L. Peiris told Parliament yesterday.   

Minister who was responding to an oral question raised by SJB MP Dr. Kavinda Jayawardena in the House said the government does not intend to allow the Batticaloa Campus to function as a private entity. “We do not intend to allow the Batticaloa Campus to function as a private entity. We will affiliate it to another state-owned university. However, we have not decided as to which university it will be affiliated to,” the Minister said.   

“The government has also decided to increase the university intake. We increased the intake to 40,000 this year. Therefore Batticaloa Campus will be used in line with this policy,” he added.   

Responding to a supplementary question raised by the SJB MP as to whether there is any move to ban teaching Sharia Law in Sri Lanka, the Minister said government will continuously monitor the content of courses taught in private universities. “We will also scrutinize the foreign preachers who come to Sri Lanka before granting visas,” he also said.    

• We will also scrutinize the foreign preachers who come to Sri Lanka before granting visas