Rowdy behaviour by student monks and others; Buddhist and Pali University closed

The Buddhist and Pali University’s administration office has decided to close the university from December 19 until further notice due to reports of serious incidents of ragging and indiscipline among a section of the students.

A statement issued by the Ven. Neluwe Sumanawansa Thera details a series of incidents where student monks and lay students had engaged in serious acts of indiscipline.  

He said on the night of November 29, a mob of students led by the student union’s president and secretary–both monks–had surrounded the lecturers’ hostel and hurled insults and abuse at those inside. This was after an incident earlier that night where several senior lecturers, including the Dean of the Buddhist Studies Faculty, the Dean of the Language Studies Faculty and wardens of student hostels, had advised students not to behave in a rowdy manner following reports of a disturbance in the student hostels.

It had also been reported that some students had disconnected the electricity supply to a hostel where foreign students were housed and had also kicked at the doors of rooms where both foreign and local students were housed. Homagama Police came to the scene following a call made to the 119 emergency hotline and a complaint had also been lodged officially by university authorities at the Homagama Police Station regarding  this incident.

University authorities had suspended 22 students over the incident that occurred on November 29. The university said a group of students had objected to a subsequent announcement made by the administration stating that students who wished to can take part in the daily Buddha Vandana being conducted at the university. This had escalated into a situation where a group of students carrying clubs and poles surrounded the official residence of the monk who serves as the hostel warden on December 5, and they behaved in a threatening manner.

Meanwhile, students had also held a protest against the university administration on December 13 following the airing of a programme by a private television channel that exposed the extent of ragging inside the university.

Given this situation, the administration needs time to restore order so students have a proper mentality to engage in academic studies, the university said, adding that this was why the university would be closed from December 19 onwards.

Accordingly, students who were accommodated at the university’s hostels had been instructed to vacate them before 4.00 p.m. on December 19. Any students who remained in the hostels past this deadline would face action according to the Prohibition of Ragging and other Forms of Violence in Educational Institutions Act No.20 of 1998, the university said.