Casting stones from glass houses: A distracted discourse on a module muddle

An important point is that the Opposition parties all of which have governed the country in the past must question themselves if they have the moral right to demand Dr. Amarasuriya’s resignation, based on how they have acted during similar situations while they were in power

It is not clear how many people in this country can understand the ongoing row over the proposed education reforms which the government initially planned to implement from this month. The only thing one can very clearly understand is that people are divided on political party lines and not on the merits and demerits of the reforms. Interestingly and importantly,  only a small number of them on either side of the divide seems to be acquainted of these reforms. It reminds us the ancient Indian parable ‘The blind men and the elephant.’

The Opposition parties and the leaders of some teachers’ trade unions initially condemned these reforms claiming that subjects such as history and literature are not made compulsory for the GCE ordinary Level students under these reforms. They refused to accept the denials by Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, who is also the education minister. 

With the passage of several weeks, those critics have forgotten or dropped that issue, raising the question if they now accept the denials by the education authorities. Or does it mean that the education ministry has included those subjects in the list of compulsory subjects after the protests by the Opposition and the trade unions? 

A sensitive issue

Now, a sensitive issue has  surfaced,  creating an embarrassing situation for the government. It has been found that a link to a website that promotes homosexuality has been introduced in the English module which is to be distributed among the Year 6 students. This has become the talking point these days,  with Opposition parties claiming that the authorities have inserted this link intentionally,while  government leaders insist that this was a serious mistake and pledging to take action against those who are responsible for the inclusion of that link in the module. 

The education ministry ordered an internal inquiry, while the ministry Secretary Nalaka Kaluwewa has lodged a complaint as well with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on the matter.  

Various damage control measures were proposed. The authorities initially stated that the leaf with the link would be removed from the module before it is distributed among students. However, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya told Parliament on Wednesday that the entire lesson in the module in question would be removed before it is distributed. She stressed that the module did not reach the students  because immediately after the matter was reported,  the whole batch of the module was sealed. 

This is no doubt a serious issue which should be thoroughly investigated to identify the person or the persons who are responsible for this muddle. The inappropriacy of this link in a book meant for the students as young as studying in Year 6 is not something difficult to realise. And hence it cannot be inadvertent.

The Opposition parties are now planning to present a no-confidence motion in Parliament against the Premier over the matter which is technically an attempt doomed to fail given the two thirds power the NPP wields in Parliament. However, the Opposition is not ignorant of this fact, but they are attempting to gain a political mileage using the opportunity to put the government in a defensive and awkward position and strengthen public opinion against the government. 

Calls for resignation

There are calls for the Prime Minister to resign. Those who want Dr. Amarasuriya to resign do not specifically say whether it is the Premier post or the ministerial post she should relinquish. Whatever it may be, the Opposition has failed to build up the kind of pressure that would compel her to step down. And they have not proved any negligence or incompetence or personal involvement on the part of her that has contributed to current module issue. 

True, any minister or a head of an institution is morally responsible for any failure in the entity under his/her watch. Yet, if we are to expect a minister or a head of an institution to resign every time such a failure occurs, we would have to see monthly or even weekly Cabinet reshuffles. 

At the same time, it does not mean that no minister has to step down whatever happens under his or her watch.People have the right to expect a minister or the head of a public body to relinquish his/her position, in the case of  a serious blunder which has a tremendous impact on public life,and in which his personal involvement is evident and which could have averted. 

An important point is that the Opposition parties all of which have governed the country in the past must question themselves if they have the moral right to demand Dr. Amarasuriya’s resignation, based on how they have acted during similar situations while they were in power. 

Over 700 soldiers were killed when the LTTE overran the Pooneryn military camp complex in 1993, another 1200 perished during the LTTE attack on the Mullaitivu camp in 1996 and around 1008soldiers  made the supreme sacrifice when  Tamil rebels attacked the Elephant Pass camp complex in April 2000. None of the Presidents who were also the commanders-in-Chief,  or the respective army commanders stepped down taking responsibility for these debacles; indeed,  nobody asked them to do so. 

The Central Bank was under the purview of the Prime Minister when the disgraceful bond scam took place in 2015. Yet, nobody was accountable for the scandal, leave alone anybody resigning. The current leaders of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) might remember how they reacted to the incident. 

It was during the same government that  terrorists launched suicide attacks on  Easter Sunday of 2019. The Commander-in-Chief and the minister of Law and Order of the day never thought to step down taking responsibility for that carnage. 

No minister claimed responsibility for the importation of substandard fertiliser and medicine during the previous government. MPs of the SLPP and the UNP defended former Minister KeheliyaRambukwella when a no-confidence motion was presented against him over substandard medicine. Nevertheless, all these incidents were more severe in effect than the current module muddle. 

In spite of there being members and supporters of all political parties who promote and defend homosexuality and there being even a SLPP member who presented a private member’s Bill seeking decriminalisation of homosexuality during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Presidency, the current Opposition has been clever to portray the NPP as aparty that supports homosexuality.

They now use that impression to take the module issue forward, while launching a sexist attack on the Prime Minister. This is not an intellectual discourse, but politicisation of education.