It's Time - FINAL EPISODE - Some horrible crimes

Continued from PART IV: Life after E-fac

FINAL EPISODE - Some horrible crimes

Nearly two decades or two generations after my self-proclaimed defeat, the situation is likely to have vastly improved and some of you young guns reading this account might find it bizarre and beyond belief.

Bizarre and beyond belief – was exactly my first impression as well just last week, when I heard a first-hand account from a batch-mate that her failure in subjects in the first and second years were due to mysterious disappearances of her duly submitted course work in Electronics, Surveying, Materials, Fluids and Drawing labs and the expunge of attendance records in some instances. There has been at least one more such known case and perhaps many unknown cases.

While, a junior staff member with a personal vendetta may have been responsible for these hideous crimes, what horrified me the most was to learn that neither corrective action on behalf of the victims nor disciplinary action against the culprit were taken by the heads of departments despite complains made and clear evidence available. That was exactly the same no-action, no-trouble attitude taken by the faculty, even under A Thureirajah, when final examination papers were leaked in 1984 resulting in a repeat exam for two of the third year papers. Investigations may have been conducted, but we know nothing about convictions recorded or any disciplinary action taken!

The saddest fact that emerges out of all this is how terrified these victims have been even to make a complaint against a mere junior academic staff member! This gap between the current and former students of the faculty is obviously the root cause of many of the problems we faced at the faculty.

I am thankful to my batchmate, who remains nameless, for revealing these incidents after all these years. While her tale left me dumbfounded for a few days, it eventually gave me the energy to write this account.

THE END

(Written by: Rasika Suriyaarachchi)