INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / JANUARY 10, 1989

 

 

 

Visit to India/Sri Lanka Con’t

fairly inexpensively.

“We can see a multitude of
short cycle visits to the [ATE to
assist them to do their job bet-
ter."

Day says the key areas where
issistance is required are sup-
port in the area of instruction,
curriculum, technologies of in-
struction, student assessment,
institutional administration and
leadership.

But in Sri Lanka, with 19 dif-
ferent ministries of government
involved in training, it’s a dif-
ferent ball game," Day says.
"“There’s an array of competing
and conflicting ministries of
government, all of which run
their own (school) systems."

 

"There’s an array of
competing and conflicting
ministries of government,
all of which run their own
(school) systems."

 

He continues that the group
has targeted one school in Sri
Lanka, the Technical Teacher
Training College, which is
universally recognized to be key
for the future development of
technical/vocational education
and has contact with 12 of the
19 ministries. "So in terms of
finding the strategically useful
people, it’s clearly the Technical
Teacher Training College. So
what we’re recommending is a
series of funded visits by faculty
and administrators from
Canadian colleges on demand."

The plan states the Canadian
teachers and administrators

 

could use professional develop-
ment and holiday time for
consulting visits to India and Sri
Lanka. Their pay would be
guaranteed during the visits.

The recent three-week trip for
Day was a triple pleasure. As
well as having input into this
valuable project, he was also
able to visit Sri Lanka for the
first time, and see India again --
revisiting where he had worked
over 20 years earlier.

In the middle 1960s, Day
spent a year in India as an ad-
visor to the University of
Rajasthan and to the Rajasthan
state government. His job was to
act as a consultant to help or-
ganize an extension program for
the university and advise the
state on methods of organizing
adult literacy programs at the vil-
lage level. "In those days I was
fairly well known in this
province for what was then
called pioneering work in adult
literacy work,” Day says.

He says the recent visit was a
“wonderful experience, especial-
ly to go back to the Delhi
region, and ...to see it a genera-
tion later."

He adds, "There has been a
lot of change and development,
some good, some bothersome."
Day elaborates: "On the good
side, everybody is much better
fed. than when I was last there.
Their local manufacturing in-
dustry is much more
sophisticated, and is turning out
much better industrial products.
India is past the take-off point,
in my opinion, as an industrial

 

"On the other hand, there’s a
lot of environmental degrada-
tion that has occurred. New
Delhi has moved from a bicycle
to a motorscooter economy, so
as a result the air is simply chok-
ing ...with pollution. They
haven’t begun to think about pol-
lution control." As well the
population growth is unabated,
consequently adding pressures
as crop surpluses are reduced.

 

Sri Lanka is a "heart-
breakingly beautiful
country" which,
unfortunately, is in
economic ruins, says Day.

 

In his first visit to Sri Lanka,
Day describes the "heart-break-
ingly beautiful country" which,
unfortunately, is in economic
ruins.

"It’s a plantation economy,
the markets for which have just
about collapsed. And it has no
real competitive advantages
over other countries. They’re
desperately trying to train young
people to work in other fashions
than working the land, but
without a clear idea as to what."

The result, Day says, is close
to 60 per cent unemployment
for males, ages 16-35. "And
that’s political dynamite."

There’s insurrection breaking
out from the Tamil minority and
the Sinhalese extremists. “The
country is gradually sliding into
more and more independence on
the military to keep things under
control," he says. And asa

continued on page 4

nation.

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