State Minister for Higher Education Professor Rajiva Wijesingha – who resigned from his position few weeks ago – crossed over to the Opposition today in the Parliament.
Professor Rajiva Wijesingha
He has stated that certain concerns he holds concerning the 19th amendment that is due to be presented before the Parliament and the removal of certain members from the University Grants Commission, as reasons that led to his decision to cross over.
Prof. Wijesinghe resigned from his position as the state Minister for Higher education after Cabinet Minister for Higher Education, Kabir Hashim instructed former UGC Chairman, Professor Kshanika Hirimburegama to resign from her position.
Although the government stated it was carried out as part of the government policy of asking all government institution and department heads to resign, Prof. Wijesinghe alleged it was carried out due to pressure from the Federation of University Teachers Association and complained of the lack of autonomy to perform necessary duties in his portfolio.
Lanka Watch / March 23, 2015
What a silly decision this educated man did. Ideal position in the
cabinet was given to him as per his credentials he held and he should
have continued in the position to help the people as education department was never under a highly qualified minister. If he had problems, being an educated man he should have explained in details to
the President as to what his dislikes were and the minister in charge was very accommodative and they even planned to accept him as education
minister but he crossed the floor in a very unmannered way and thank god, the President has brought in another educated man Dr. Sarath
Amunugama, who has ministerial experience. There must be some truth
in what the People say that too much of education also makes a man desperate. Here are few examples of how the educated behaved in this country
1. SWRD brought in “Sinhala only” legislature as a short cut to victory
using communal slogans. This man was educated at Oxford University,
UK and was the president of the Students Union
2. JRJ looked the other side when Sri Lanka was burning in July 1983
riots, which incident brought disrepute to the country and himself
He was also educated at Oxford, University
3. GG Ponnambalam, eminent criminal lawyer fought for 50/50 rights
for the Tamils when the Tamil population was only 12-15% of the
total population of the country. He was also educated at Oxford.
There were other leaders who did not have formal education fared
better than the Oxford educated, so politics is not for the too
much educated, as proved by Dr. Rajiva as they get cranky at times
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