By FHA Shibly –

FHA. Shibly

The culture of Sri Lanka has mixed elements where traditional aspects with a modern touch are there. The country is prominently famous for regional diversity. Sri Lankan culture has the influence of Theravada Buddhism and its heritage has been passed on from India. The religious legacy is particularly very strong in Sri Lanka, especially in its southern and central regions. Sri Lanka has earned its fame for being a multi-ethnic and multi-racial country. It has a heterogeneous population and the country has inherited a culture where all communities inhabited non-violence and peace. The people of the country prefer to live with love and affection and they all have an understanding among each other for centuries from the days of their forefathers.

Sri Lankan Colleges and universities usually aim to sustain an expansion of community partnerships with the institutionalization of civic engagement. In this process, they prefer to faculty challenges for following reasons:

• The adoption of faculty on the basis of community where the approach is in pedagogies and research.

• Faculty put a stress on practical and conceptual barrier breakage.

• Involvement and engagement of students in activities.

• Appearance in competitive exams where expected duties such as teaching, research, and service roles are performed.

• Local community’s broad support for institutional environment and advancement.

• Development strategies that seek intentional integration. And here three roles mainly facilitate to improve the society such as research and teaching with institutional impact of education on the community.

The inhabitants of the island celebrate all festivals as Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims lived in peace, but after independence in parts of the country, people were so badly divided that they become suspicious. The distrustful behavior of all towards each other dis-hearted many people. The distrust has caused an ultimate effect on the growth in a negative way and it led to the progress in a retarded manner. It’s a lovely country, where people could live together in harmony and prosperity in the form of a nation. Undoubtedly, the failure of political leadership has never let it flourish as it deserves.

For decades, instigation to divide the community people on the basis of ethics has been a prominent issue of discussion. The rulers with the subjects are mainly responsible for cultivating the desire of forming a united society. A society where people live as one nation and experience the love and kindness of humanity where co-existence and affection builds a mutual trust in society. The country people follow the core values of Buddhism as it’s a Buddhist nation. The greatest reward which the people bestow their children is a compassion of peace and happiness with love.

Due to few political even as financial issues where social and other issues were blended as well had pushed a group of common people to fight for nearly 30 years against their own people of elected government. It has become necessary to begin a serious dialogue basically on the build up process of a society where the establishment of peaceful co-existence with harmony is needed. As the country follows Buddhism, which defines in the teachings that the root cause of all misconceptions is craving. In the present society of Sri Lanka the politicians and bureaucrats provide a foremost place to common people where they keep on collecting personal benefits. These selfish politicians are not working for the welfare of the common people. For them, their personal interest is much more relevant to their specified work instead of being attentive towards their duties and responsibilities. Under their influence, the police force of the country is labeled as corrupt. The public considers the police as a puppet in the hands of the politician and they alleged that the police never got involved in activities such as the maintenance of law and order.

Lord Buddha is being worshiped in Sri Lanka as a God and people follow his sermons. He always preached that hatred only gives nourishment to hatred. So, it’s very important to understand the message of the Lord Buddha and even its propagation. Lord Buddha defined in his preachings that the mind is the only platform which sets the base for vice and virtue. He preached that everybody should learn how to live without anger, according to him this task is a must for peaceful and harmonious life. He always favored killing the dangerous feeling of minds such as hate, ill-will, greed, and enmity. According to him, never take a step without thinking and if you do any act only for personal profit, then it’s a selfish manner of living life.

All in all, there is a need to take little steps to develop the society by following few steps defined below:

• Restructuring the local government Institutions with tort reform of civic authorities.

• Reform of public sector, such as improvement and maintenance with that accountability and receptiveness in an open way.

• Specification of the roles and duties in public sector.

• Evaluation of the performance on the basis of institutional and individual.

• Nomination of honest and efficient employees who are capable of running the constituent activities.

FHA Shibly, Lecturer, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka