vision-lk
Youth Unrest
We have been an agricultural society for ages. At the time we gained independence in 1948, the British had established an economy built around tea, rubber and coconut. Even after we gained independence, Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake focused himself on expanding infrastructure and land utilization for agriculture.
The middle class — educated professionals — was rather limited. In 1942, the University of Ceylon was established. C.W.W. Kannangara played a key role. He also introduced reforms to establish free education to provide equal opportunity for all.
Fast forward a couple of decades, we were still a feudal society. The educated class became professionals — doctors, engineers, lawyers and accountants. They lived more comfortable lives but not that of much affluence. Education had not resulted in wealth. The country was still ruled and the businesses were run by the old masters.
Rohana Wijeweera — influenced by Russian thinking — explained the situation in terms of the class struggle. The educated youth were without promising prospects. They were just slaves of the old guard. He organized a revolt in 1971 and another one in the late 1980s. Both were crushed. But the problem remained.
President J.R. Jayewardene had introduced the open economy concept and enabled the accrual of power by the entrepreneurial class. The film Gam Peraliya comes to mind. These reforms enabled a transition from the old guard. However, it was not necessarily the educated class that became the entrepreneurial class.
Today, as it has been for at least the last few decades, even a well educated youth has not much promise of a bright future. It may be the case that, in Sri Lanka, an education doesn’t provide the desired enablement for the youth because of cultural or feudal old guard dynamics. More interestingly, it may be the case that our education system is limited in depth and breadth to actually enable the individual to be a significant player in society. Our education seems to be mere vocational training and not a well-rounded education.
Either way, the youth are frustrated.