Reimagining Education in Sri Lanka – Part 3
Every weekday morning in cities and towns across the globe, a familiar ritual unfolds. Millions of young people file into classrooms, sit in neat rows and organize their days into precisely timed…
Author: Harendra Alwis
Reimagining Education in Sri Lanka – Part 2
To understand why our education system needs fundamental transformation, we must first understand its origins. As education pioneer Sugata Mitra explains in his influential TED Talk “Building a School in the Cloud,”…
Reimagining Education in Sri Lanka – Part 1
Sri Lanka stands at a critical juncture in its development journey. The new government’s policy framework, “A Thriving Nation, A Beautiful Life,” correctly identifies education as fundamental to national revival and economic…
Sri Lanka’s Political Moment in 2024: Part 3
At the cusp of a significant political transformation, Sri Lanka stands at a crucial juncture in its history with an opportunity to reclaim and redefine its place among the community of nations….
Sri Lanka’s Political Moment in 2024: Part 2
The year 2024 marks a watershed moment in Sri Lanka’s political history. The National People’s Power (NPP) party, led by Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD), has ascended to power on a platform that…
Sri Lanka’s Political Moment in 2024: Part 1
Jazeera In the wake of the National People’s Power (NPP) party’s remarkable victory in the 2024 presidential election, some observers have been quick to attribute the result to a protest vote against…
Kumar Sangakkara: The greatest hero of our time
The Cricketing world will pause for a moment, to celebrate the legendary career of Kumar Sangakkara that draws to a close, and then move on; a bit richer for the legacy he…
Sri Lanka’s political moment: Rediscovering our kinship and common history
Photo courtesy EPA/M.A.PUSHPA KUMARA via Sky News As the new administration has begun to unpack promises made during a hasty election campaign, it is clear that they are constrained by their own political…
Sri Lanka’s Political Moment: Part 2
Photo by REUTERS/Stringer, via Al Jazeera A transformation of the political agenda Despite many detailed analysis of Sri Lanka’s present political moment by a myriad experts, two of its significant aspects have so…
Sri Lanka’s political moment
Image via Maithripala Sirisena A change of guard The future of Sri Lanka’s democracy has reached a pivotal point. On the 9th of January, it awoke after decades of paralytic slumber….
How must we respond to religious extremism and incitement to violence?
Image from Ingulfed Do not despair. It helps to try to understand the situation as it evolves, rather than crystallise your view of it in judgment. If you know your enemies and…
A failed test match and lost identity
Photo courtesy AFP/ISHARA S. KODIKARA At the post match conference after the third test against Pakistan, the captain of Sri Lanka said that his team lost; not because they were too negative…
The perpetual conflict: Part 3
Photo via blackjuly.info The Politics of Identity It seems all too obvious that the regular cycles of violence that have emerged in our recent history since 1915 are distinctly communal in character….
The perpetual conflict: Part 2
Photo via blackjuly.info Fault-lines Perhaps it is a tragic coincidence of our time; or maybe it was inevitable given the passage of generations, that we are marking the thirty year anniversary of…
The perpetual conflict: Part 1
Photo via blackjuly.info The dark clouds of history When I look back, I do not see the black smoke rising, or the cries of hapless countrymen, women and innocent children – victims…