Jaffna students allege discrimination in University Admissions

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 May 2007, 10:32 GMT]
Nine Tamil students from Jaffna district have filed separate petitions in the Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal seeking the court to order the University Grants Commission (UGC) of Sri Lanka to admit them to medical faculties in universities for the current academic year. The petitioners state in their suits that they have failed to gain admission due to continuous discrimination and unjust policies adopted by the UGC in granting admission to Tamil students, legal sources said.

The petitioners, S. Abeyalayan, T.Mahiba, J.Abiram, V.Gajanthan, P.Nirshanthini, K.Abirami, K.Karthiga, K.Rasakanthan, and S.Janathana state all of them have passed the GCE Advanced level examination with "qualifying" grades.

Mr.Mohan Balendra, Senior Counsel filed these petitions on behalf of the students in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday citing the Chairman of the UGC as the respondent.

Petitioners state that university admissions are granted on the basis of merit and district quota system. However, 40% of the admission should be granted on merit based on "Z" score marks. The "Z" score marks for medical faculties is 1.8824.

According to this threshold score, 29 students from Jaffna district should have been selected on merit at national level and 39 from district basis. However 28 students from Jaffna district have gained admission at district level instead of 39 thus refusing admission to 11 students who are eligible, the petitioners said.

Hence petitioners have begged that the court should order the UGC to admit all 39 students qualified from Jaffna district to medical faculty in the Jaffna University.

Petitioners in support of their stand have furnished copies of the speech recently made by Deputy Minister for Higher Education Mr. Myown Mustapha alleging that students of minority communities have been continuously subjected to discrimination and unjust in university admission, legal sources further said.