Jun 18th, 2001
University of Kalania
The University of Kalania is about seven miles outside the city of Colombo. I chose to live in Colombo on the advice of the Fullbright organization.
The University facilities are not quite up to the standard that the people in the United States are used to.
I taught Chemistry to both undergraduate as well as graduate students.
I went there to develop a Masters program in environmental chemistry, which I did.
All of the windows of the offices have to be kept open because of the humidity and the problems with mildew and mold growing.
The teaching itself was a bit challenging because of the unreliable state with electricity. A lot of the time, the lights would go out as well as the ceiling fan and the heat can get overwhelming.
On top of that, there are flocks of mosquitoes swarming around you.
The heat, humidity, and a lot of times it rains and the sounds of raindrops can be a bit too loud.
All around, giving a simple lecture is not like what people normally envision in this country.
The rooms are often times, not kept very clean. There are animals like cats and dogs running in an out. A lot of times, the custodians don’t come around and keep the rooms very clean.
Of the nine months that I was there, the school was only opened about for of the months. There were continuous demonstrations and they would burn buildings and the school would shut down quite frequently.
There are groups of people who feel that the university is part of the establishment, which is not looking after their well-being. There are over forty different political parties and there are communist parties, parties that are sympathetic towards the Tamils, and they continuously want to express their feeling over the way that the Sri Lankan government conducts itself.
The Vice Chancellor of Kalania was understandably, very nervous about keeping the school open so as soon as he heard about demonstrations, he would order the administration to close the building.
While we walked through the University, my Father began telling me about his experiences with the school. “Many people dream about Sri Lanka as the place to come and soak up the sun, snorkel, or visit ancient ruins,” he began. “In this sense it’s a very lovely place but there is another side to this country that I’ve been exposed to as a result of teaching at the University here.
These students are outside of my office everyday, in the sweltering sun and humidity, simply because they couldn’t find a seat in the library. If they are lucky, they can sometimes find a piece of rickety furniture where they can sit down and share lunch. Three students: two girls and one boy always seemed to be around my office when I get there at eight in the morning.
Today, they tried to explain in broken English that it was their last day of examinations and they just wanted to say goodbye. As of today, they are through with their college life. They don’t have jobs though, nor do they expect one fairly soon. That is their karma, to be in Sri Lanka with no bright prospects. Nevertheless, they are glad that their schooling is going to be over, I am sure.
They are lucky compared to the 90,000 high school graduates who were selected to go to university but could not find openings because of backlogs created by an ineffective political situation and bureaucratic shortcomings in the system.
