Sifaan Zavahir

Dehegemonist (Education)

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@DinukaAri Neoliberalism: where exporting our coconuts for forex is more important than preserving our food culture and food soveriegnty

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@EnHui Really? And does this charity increase the number of places in the university?

So… whose place do these poor children receive? Some other poor student’s, or some other rich student’s?

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@Kauship1 Tuition is driven by demand - cos exams are so competitive & parents seek an edge for their kids. Raising wages is necessary because it is underpaid, and some people may opt out of doing tuition because they’d rather use the time for other matters. But the market will continue

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@Amethystinia At least in English we can hide behind Ms. (that still communicates gender) - in Sinhala it’s just not possible 🤯

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@sujatagamage All sectors of education are grossly underfunded - but the NEPF that you authored did not propose to increase funding for any of them

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

One of the conversations at the event was that if we suddenly made information on painless suicide available, there would be a glut of suicides - but that points to a larger malaise in society, and why are we not doing something about that?

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

Didn’t expect my first peer reviewed publication (only an abstract, but still) would be on this topic, but still related (of course!) to human rights

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@Amethystinia Symptomatic of a hyper-sensitive sphincter

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@Amethystinia When the purpose of education is preparation for work, humanities ed will automatically be devalued - because what’s good for human beings isn’t good for business. Why else is, eg, education on worker rights missing in the “education for jobs” curricula

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@indika27 #3 "මේ විදිහට" කියලා අහන්නෙ වැරදි තොරතුරු (#2)‍ ගැනද, වැඩි මිල (#1)‍ ගැනද- හැම බෙහෙතකටම නියම කරන ලද මිලක් තියෙනවාද?, prescription නැතුව විකිනීම ද?

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@kavindya_T I told them off about #3 last time. Rather than support applicants to provide the info the embassy requests they put excessive demands like this - easier for them to get a complete copy of passport than check if visas are copied (also more revenue for their photocopy service)

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@Amethystinia Rape. ShE wAs AsKiNg FoR iT.

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@Amethystinia Stockholm syndrome is the term I also use… to describe the coping mechanism most commonly used by victims of violence in school

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@Kauship1 @anuradisanayake @Dr_HariniA I don’t have confidence in the process by which UGC determines which degree awarding institutions to “recognize” under section 25A of Universities Act, but - if that process is accepted, shouldn’t those institutions have representation in the UGC?

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@samarajiva Is that how the criminal justice system is supposed to work? Citizens have to decide what sections an accused should be charged under and petition the AG?

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@ShanakaScore @h_liyan That children are required to submit themselves for testing (or be denied access to further education that they desire) is a travesty. Education should not be Enclosed (a la the Enclosure Acts).

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@ShanakaScore @h_liyan It’s difficult… but I rather have these conversations wherever they emerge to whatever extent possible and then depending on the reaction some people might agree to zoom, meet in person etc

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@kavindya_T The only useful thing I can glean from Shyamika’s post is that he is a “no one”

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

Besides, there’s more than enough Beauty in maths that we might naturally recognize if it wasn’t being always shoved down our throats (fortunately for me I had such experiences before school so I never developed a maths phobia)

I ended with this quote from Dead Poets Society.

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

Some years ago I was invited to a Principal’s Forum organized by the @lkBritish on “STEM to STEAM” with an invited speaker from the UK and Peter D'Almeida. Before this I was perhaps partial to the STEAM idea but in prepping for the event I realized what an abomination it was.

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

@h_liyan Have you thought about the origins of this prejudice of humanities by STEM disciples? Eg why is it that kids who want to do arts for A/L are told they are smart enough to do science/maths so they should do them (insinuating that arts is for losers who can’t do science?)

[Sifaan Zavahir @sifaan]

The invited speaker was talking about things like how we could count raindrops to learn math. Like NO! Art exists for its own sake, not to make STEM happen. Count raindrops if it makes you feel alive, but don’t prostitute it to learn maths.