Union action if SAITM not addressed – State Medical faculties
The Presidents of the Faculty of Medical Teachers Associations of the eight medical faculties under the University Grants Commission says it will launch a trade union action if the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine or SAITM issue is not identified as a threat to free education.
Issuing a statement, the Faculty of Medical Teachers Associations said the SAITM issue was discussed at length for the safety of patients and the wellbeing of undergraduates of state medical faculties.
The FMTA said it is not in agreement with the verdict of the Court of Appeal which ordered the Sri Lanka Medical Council to grant provisional registration to students of SAITM and it fully endorses and supports the decision by the Sri Lanka Medical Council to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.
It said the FMTAs are disappointed about the lethargic approach shown by the present and former governments to resolve the issue with a solution agreeable to all parties concerned.
The Presidents of the Faculty of Medical Teachers Associations said they fear that it will lead to a serious threat to the training of medical students of the eight state medical faculties if authorities do not intervene in an unbiased way to solve the current crisis.
Accordingly, the FMTAs said the recruitment of new students to the medical degree program of SAITM should be ceased immediately until definitive solutions are reached.
(Source: News Radio)
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This SAITM is being blown beyond proportions by academia mainly due to fear of extinction of free higher education.
It is obvious taxpayers in SL cannot continue to fund fancy university degrees, for long.
We should let private universities grow along with public universities.
While public university admissions are based on GCE AL scores, private universities should recruit students on the basis of:
(1) AL performance (50%)
(2) Interview performance demonstrating proven affinity to course applied (30%) and
(3) letters of recommendation from local Pradeshiya Sabha and local MP (20%).