FUTA To Stage Protests

Sunday Leader

By Janith Aranze

Mahim Mendis

The Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) has confirmed that they plan on staging several public meetings this month in protest over the interim order given by the Court of Appeal.  The Court of Appeals issued an interim order last week, preventing Vice Chancellors of Jayewardenepura, Wayamba and Ruhuna universities from accepting letters of resignation from Department Heads.  Spokesperson for the FUTA, Dr Mahim Mendis, told The Sunday Leader that public meetings have been scheduled for June 13 and 21. “On June 13, we have scheduled a meeting to be held at Ruhuna University and we will be staging another meeting in Colombo on June 21. We want to explain to the people the gravity of the issue,” Mendis told The Sunday Leader.  Mendis revealed that talks with Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of Economic Development and S.B. Dissanayake, Minister of Higher Education, proved ineffective.  “We had informal talks with Basil Rajapaksa and we spoke to S.B. Dissanayake in Peradeniya but the talks were not fruitful.  Officials are compelled to operate within specific parameters; they do not see the difference between a university professor and a government official,” Mendis explained.