Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) says that they have no faith in the United Peoples Front Alliance (UPFA) government pledge of not privatising higher education. Addressing a large number of Buddhist monks and youth at the end of a march protesting government moves to reform education, the IUSF convener Duminda Nagomuwa said that the UGC has given permission to the Aquinas institution to award degrees.
He claimed that this decision was taken "even before a year elapsed since the government promised not to privatise universities". From the Colombo Fort railway station the March took 2 hours to reach the University Grants Commission (UGC) entrance in Ward Place, reported Elmo Fernando, our Colombo correspondent.
The entrance to the UGC premises was heavily guarded by hundreds of policemen with the aid of the riot squad, metal barriers and rolls of barbed wire.Addressing the gathering, Jayawardenapura University Student Union President Sujith Kuruwita said that this protest marked the "first salvo" against privatising education. IUSF representatives later handed over a memorandum to UGC chairman Prof. B B M Mendis. | 
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