{"id":52411,"date":"2012-08-28T07:23:16","date_gmt":"2012-08-28T07:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=52411"},"modified":"2012-08-28T07:23:16","modified_gmt":"2012-08-28T07:23:16","slug":"over-50-national-trade-unions-and-csos-pledge-to-safeguard-state-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/over-50-national-trade-unions-and-csos-pledge-to-safeguard-state-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 50 National Trade Unions And CSOs Pledge To Safeguard State Education"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>\u00a0By <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\">Colombo Telegraph<\/a><\/span> &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=FUTA%29&amp;x=12&amp;y=4\">Federation of University Teachers\u2019 Associations (FUTA)<\/a><\/span> held a historic convention at the Western Province Aesthetic Centre on 17 August 2012 on the current status and future directions of State Education in Sri Lanka or \u201cfree education\u201d as it is popularly known. The convention was attended by representatives of over 50 national trade unions and civil society organizations who collectively pledged to safeguard State Education.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We reproduce below the text of the preamble and the collective pledge along with a list of trade unions and civil society organizations which participated in this event.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>PLEDGE TO PROTECT STATE EDUCATION<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/higher-education-in-sri-lanka-schools-out\/futa3\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-52122\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-52122\" title=\"FUTA3\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/FUTA3-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/FUTA3-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/FUTA3-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/FUTA3.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>The idea of Education is central to the continuation and preservation of human society, materially as well as culturally.\u00a0 Education enables and sustains civilisations and promotes humanism and is a fundamental pillar of human rights, democracy, sustainable development and peace, and should become accessible to all (World Declaration on Higher Education for the 21<sup>st<\/sup> Century, 1998).<\/p>\n<p>In Sri Lanka, public sector education or \u2018free education\u2019 as it is commonly known, is a fundamental feature of our society, a core value on which the modern Sri Lankan identity has been built. The philosophy that drove Sri Lanka\u2019s education policy and state investment in education centred on the potential of education for addressing social inequality.\u00a0 Many of our achievements as a nation, for which we have won acclaim globally rests on the opportunities provided through public sector education.\u00a0 Over the past six decades, it has been the avenue by which the masses sought and achieved upward social mobility. More importantly, it was pivotal in bringing about a post-independence renaissance in the fields of learning, science, art and culture.<\/p>\n<p>However, since the early 1980s, the notion of education has been slowly changing.\u00a0 Both the goals and outcomes of education are becoming primarily market-driven. The financial burden of education is slowly shifting from the state to individual students and their families and the objectives of education are becoming narrowly defined in terms of \u2018employability\u2019 or instrumental market needs.\u00a0 This has come at high cost: both in terms of financial burden for families as well as declining standards in state funded education at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. This shift has resulted in a diminishing appreciation of the social worth of education as well as the social responsibility to ensure education for all.\u00a0 The declining standards in education have also been accompanied by increasing political interference in the administration as well as academic aspects, such as curriculum design, recruitment, etc. of the education sector.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, as representatives of trade unions, professional bodies and civil society movements, we, the undersigned collectively resolve to:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Work towards restoring the value of education as fulfilling a larger public good<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lobby the government to recognise the importance of protecting and enhancing state funded education<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Work collaboratively to restore public confidence in the state education sector<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Advocate for the government to honour its commitments to enhance funding for education to reach at least 6% of GDP which is the minimum UNESCO benchmark for state support for education<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Resist and challenge political interference with the management of educational institutions<\/p>\n<p>Federation of University Teachers\u2019 Associations<\/p>\n<p>Ceylon Teachers Service Union<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Ceylon Teachers Union<\/p>\n<p>Independent Ceylon Teachers Union<\/p>\n<p>Sri Lanka National Teachers Union<\/p>\n<p>Ceylon Pragathi Teachers Union<\/p>\n<p>Education Professionals Union<\/p>\n<p>General Teaching Professionals Union<\/p>\n<p>Ceylon Piriven Teachers Union<\/p>\n<p>Moratuwa University Workers Union<\/p>\n<p>Inter University Students Federation<\/p>\n<p>Arts Faculty Students Union, Colombo University<\/p>\n<p>School Non-educational Services Union<\/p>\n<p>Food, Drink and Tobacco Industry Union<\/p>\n<p>Federation of Ceylon Trade Unions<\/p>\n<p>Muslim Women\u2019s Research and Action Forum<\/p>\n<p>Law and Society Trust<\/p>\n<p>Young Researchers\u2019 Collective<\/p>\n<p>Medical Faculty Student Action Committee<\/p>\n<p>Sri Lanka Federal Health Services Union<\/p>\n<p>Free March Organization<\/p>\n<p>Free Trade Zone and General Services Workers Union<\/p>\n<p>All Ceylon Nurses Union<\/p>\n<p>Inter-company Workers Union<\/p>\n<p>Kantha Shakthi Organizaiton<\/p>\n<p>Equal Ground<\/p>\n<p>Women and Media Collective<\/p>\n<p>Federation of Media Workers Unions<\/p>\n<p>All Ceylon State Management Support Staff Union<\/p>\n<p>Telephone Operators Union<\/p>\n<p>Ceylon Mercantile Union<\/p>\n<p>United Workers Federation<\/p>\n<p>Employed Graduates Union<\/p>\n<p>Inland Revenue General Workers Union<\/p>\n<p>Sri Lanka Railway General Workers Union<\/p>\n<p>National Intellectual Professionals Collective<\/p>\n<p>Sri Lanka Port General Workers Union<\/p>\n<p>All Ceylon Transport Workers Union<\/p>\n<p>Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya<\/p>\n<p>Ports Authority Workers Union<\/p>\n<p>All Ceylon Railway Workers Union<\/p>\n<p>Telecom Engineering Diploma Holders Union<\/p>\n<p>Professor Senaka Bibile Memorial Organization<\/p>\n<p>Sri Lanka Public Health Inspectors Union<\/p>\n<p>Alliance of Health Workers Unions<\/p>\n<p>All Ceylon Bank Workers Union<\/p>\n<p>State Timber Corporation Workers Union<\/p>\n<p>Provincial Council General Workers Union<\/p>\n<p>All Ceylon Customs Workers Union<\/p>\n<p>Film Corporation Workers Union<\/p>\n<p>University of Fine Arts General Students Union<\/p>\n<p>Sri Lanka Postal Workers Union<\/p>\n<p>Sri Lanka Professional Journalists Union<\/p>\n<p>National Workers Union, Ports<\/p>\n<p>State Services Management Support Officers Union<\/p>\n<p>Ports General Union<\/p>\n<p>South Asia Free Media Organization, Sri Lanka Chapter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":52122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[4181,4180,2849,2820],"class_list":["post-52411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories","tag-free-education-and-state-education","tag-futa-and-trade-unions-working-together","tag-futa-demands-news","tag-futa-strike-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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