Sri Lanka the pearl of the Indian ocean, once self sufficient with produce within the country, now in debt to the most part of the world. What exactly should change in Sri Lanka? Well, this is my humble attempt to answer the very same question. It is utterly depressing to see a nation with higher standards of education and cultural values, struggle to reform and develop the country. It is also very sad to see the short sighted opportunists thrive in all areas of Sri Lanka’s economy, where they blindfoldedly deny the future of their own children.
The current situation in North/East provinces is fragile and blurd. With the focus of the world being elsewhere, the progress of the North after war is minute and minimum. Have we forgotten the values of life? Some reports suggest there are 1400 deaths each week in internment camps. Only a fraction of 300,000 misplaced prople have been settled so far. Surely the attitude towards refugees in the camps has to change, so does the pace of settling people back in their homes. By no means can we forget the root causes of the long lasted friction between different ethnicities. Love and respect for each other have been overwhelmed with hatred and mistrust. Is it not time we trusted each other and develop some respect for others? Younger generations have to be taught the importance of coexisting rather than differences within us. Sri Lankans as a nation must learn to tag ourselves only as Sri Lankans rather than the language spoken or religion observed.
I am ever so greatful for the free education system in Sri Lanka. Unlike majority of the countries in the world, Sri Lanka does provide a completely free education until a student graduates from a university. How many more countries can you name who does that? But the paradox is the limited resources. Only a handful of state universities cater to the proportionately massive student population, thus the competition for a state university admission is unbearable. On the other hand parents are forcing their children to every possible edge adapting the competitive mentality, which in return jeopardise the childhood freedom of our younger generation. It’s about time we saw some significant reformation in our education system.
Education is the backbone of any nation. The children have the right to be educated and it is our duty to feed them with the correct information and mindset. None of us were given the choice of nationality at birth. Personally I am proud to be a Sri Lankan, but can we stop the future generations regret being born in Sri Lanka? Yes of course, unless we ignore to ignore the differences between and within us, and to embrace upon common grounds.
We as Sri Lankans know we can’t deny the existence of corruption in all sectors of the economy. It’s a never ending vicious circle with very common and ignorant excuses. It’s been rooted heavily in the whole system, that we fail to realize the abnormality or the damage caused. Should we keep adopting the changes made by few for their own sake and evolve as a bunch of dirty freaks, who would not hesitate to steal from fellow honest citizen. Surely our younger generation has to be desciplinned accordingly. Taking action against crime doesn’t have to start from authorities in power. Weeding out corruption has to start from minor entities, meaning ourselves, home, street, town and so forth. Once again I remind the importance of developing the education system accordingly and to cater to the current needs of the nation. At least the generations to come will enjoy a corruption free environment, or let us collectively be cursed for ignoring the viral elements within our nation.
To be continued..