It is definitely a black day in the history of UOM. Hundreds of NDT hooligans attacked the campus hostels (Girls hostel and Boys hostel). Most probably you all would've heard about the attack on UOM (It was not a fight, it was an attack) . You can read the full account of the attack here.Go here to see the photos of the attack.
University was out of bounds on January 16th for most of the engineering students and the first year NDT students. It was closed earlier regarding a small clash between NDT and BSc Engineering faculty students and was expected to open within a week's time.
And all changed on January 16.
NDT vs BSc Engineering clash is nothing new to Moratuwa. It has been going on for at least 30 years now. Annual clashes between these two normally just before their Final exams are not a well kept secret. But this attack is not just another clash between these two. Reports say this attack is even worse than the one in 1999 .
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| Profile Picture protest against the attack!! |
I talked with a NDT friend of mine who is still doing the first year in NDT course (I have loads of NDT friends thanks to the Leadership Camp). And he also shared the same ideology like ours, and said that NDT is largely at mistake and said he wasn't part of the attackers. He further added that only a handful of NDT students are behind the violence and rest of them just went behind them. And said it all started with NDT passed out students attacking the final year students of BSc sometime back and BSc engineering students hitting back some NDT final year students (Which is why university was closed for the first time). And this was NDT's way of revenge. He said that some of the thugs used on the attack was brought to the campus on 2 buses.
He is also like us very much disappointed with the attack and the closing of the campus.
This is why I want to press the issue that "Do not Generalize when posting about NDT on Social networks".
To be honest NDT were the first ones to call Moratuwa their home. The building was donated to Technical Diploma students by UNESCO in the early 1950s. And the Engineering faculty was only included in the campus much later. So, true they have a good claim to the university premises. But this is not a Grade 3 classroom Desk to say "Hey, I came early to the school so this desk is mine, no matter what I do with it". If the first to come can rule the place forever rule is applicable in all places, Muslims have no claim in Israel and Vijayan had no claim in Sri lanka.
I talked with an old NDT graduate and he told me about the hardships the NDT diplomats face in the work place. How Engineering Degree holders undermine the Technical Diploma holders and how they stop the Diploma holders getting promotions. And he further said this problem is more severe on State Sector than the private sector. He further said a fresh degree holder is more valued than a diploma holder with 30 years of experiences.
Even some of the engineers I knew accepted this kind of step motherly attitude towards the diploma students. I'm not saying that vandalism in the university could be justified by this explanation. Vandalism cant be and shouldn't be tolerated under any condition. All the super hero movies show that Super Villains are mostly created by the injustice they faced (Eg: Bane in The Dark Knight rises , The Lizard in Amazing Spider man).
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| One of the Hostel rooms that came under the attack. |
Campus is now closed and out of bounds for BSc Engineering students and NDT students. We just had a six month break because of all these strikes and only had one and a half month campus activities only to be closed again because of this attack. And rumours say that this will also be a big leave for us BSc students. So I guess everyone would agree that we must once and for all put an end to these clashes and attacks in the future.
This problem is going on for a very long time and to solve the problem overnight is not practical.
We could drop our step motherly attitude towards the Diploma holders and give more recognition to them. And NDT people also should come to peace with the fact that a Diploma course is never going to be good enough as a Degree. But changing the attitude of the people is never easy and nearly impossible. It's not an old Tamil movie for people to become good at the climax. Though it's not bad to try...
Moving NDT or Engineering faculty out of Moratuwa is the more apt and practical solution for this problem. We don't see NDT people and Peradeniya BSc people fighting, because they are far and apart. So moving NDT or BSc out of the Campus could bring an end to these fights, at least it will happen less frequently. As for what I heard they are already planning to build a separate building for NDT students outside UOM.
I'm going to guess that some of our engineering people have already started to make plans for our revenge. Maybe hitting some NDT under grads outside the campus and continuing the cycle of clashes that has been going on for the last 30 years. BSc Engineering students should understand that they have more to lose in this scenario than NDT students. If we don't take our revenge in a physical manner this time, we might be able to stop this cycle of clashes. As Gandhi said once "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind", Revenge is not the solution here. We engineers are the future professionals, and it's about time for us to behave like one.
Our educational system is so much low and down with all the other problems, It's time for us to lift this one weight off our Educational system's back.
