Are cops and tamashas more important than students?

I'm back, and I am ranting. I may not be as good as I used to be, but, by Eris, I am pissed off.

I spent five days teaching teachers at Hali-Ela.

It wasn't easy, but there is a part of me that insists I do such things. I have to test myself and push myself. Otherwise, I may as well just lie in bed all the time, and that is as interesting as watching the paint dry.

In Hali-Ela, I met members of the various schools. Teachers who run labs that provide ICT training for our students. The same students who lack jobs. The ones who have no future. The ones who might have a future in the ICT world. And these teachers were good. They were enthusiastic, and wanted to learn Linux and FOSS. More than that, they wanted to pass the knowledge forqward. Pretty awesome isn't it, to be in the company of people like that. Pretty fucking rare too in Sri Lanka.

So I taught them. For better or worse, I did it. And I also learned from them.

When we first started the project (we being me, bud, and the mad monk) we thought these teachers would all come from high tech labs like we went to. And some of those labs were high tech. But, that first round, we were shown the best of locations. Its like you getting all dressed up to meet a girl for the first time (or a guy for that matter). The average, and the reality, is far different. We found teachers in the Eastern province who didn't have labs, or didn't have buildings, or didn't have connectivity. I met one from, I think, Mahiyangana who was the proud owner of a lab with two computers. And one of them is a donation. I've got more machines than that in my bedroom.

But that's the point isn't it? This guy teaches with two machines. And he gets three students to answer the ICT exam each year. And then the Government spends 2.8 billion rupees on the SAARC festival happening here. And of that amount 2.3 billion is going to buy cars and bikes for the cops to protect the folks who are coming over to Sri Lanka for what has rapidly become a massive wank-fest. Like the Oscars, SAARC is not about getting anything done, but about patting yourself in the back and jacking each other off.

Do the cops need that many vehicles? Are we in need of more 750CC motorcycles to protect us? Bikes that cost well over LKR750,000 each? Bikes that will be used as outriders for the politicians who have ruined this country?

And worse, do we do that at the expense of the students who, with a thousandth of that money, could actually be provided with a future for themselves, and for Sri Lanka as a whole?