Let’s dream of a renaissance in Sri Lanka - EDITORIAL

These are times when parents and even politicians are promoting the thought of quality education because when pursuing a goal in life ambition must match skill. 
Just the other day this writer read about a school to be opened in Sri Lanka where the curriculum caters to students who wish to have an alternative schooling; an education that is fun and not one that forces the student to sit in class against his or her wishes.

We’re living in an era where education decides where we go in life. We’ve stepped into an era where outdated dogmas, religious practices and even traditions are questioned. The youth of today are better informed to make a decision about education here and opportunities abroad.
If we take a peep into the history of Europe something like what is happening now on this island happened. It was the mid-fourteenth century and Europe was looking to Greek and Roman culture for inspiration and an artistic flowering. It was called the period of the Renaissance. 

It would be quite helpful to view this period through the eyes of an accomplished artist like Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519). It was a period of cultural rebirth. Artists were valued and they received commissions for work done for wealthy businessmen or even the decision makers like the monarchs. Even their signatures were sought after so as to show who the artist was. These signatures added value to their work. The word recognition was beginning to have value in a society which was seeing new light through a transition from the Medieval Ages to the period of Renaissance.

Sri Lankans who were directly involved in the Aragalaya-the struggle- can initially take a cue from the Renaissance period. People who benefitted from this birth of a new era had so many essential qualities to absorb the benefits of the change that was taking place. Some of those qualities were intelligence, talent, curiosity, ambition and work ethic. 
There were no shortcuts. Even the people with talent worked hard. The present generation representing youth in Sri Lanka too has all these qualities. Why the struggle, carried out especially by the youth on this island, failed is a topic for discussion on another day. The purpose of this column is to underscore the fact that our youth who featured in the ‘struggle’ too can usher in a period of renaissance. 

The dictionary defines the word renaissance as a new growth of activity or interest in something, especially art, literature or music. The ousted President got hold of all the artists on this island and got them to decorate the walls of selected towns with brush strokes and colour. That didn’t qualify to be a period of renaissance. When the artists ‘woke up’ from slumber they realised that they were taken for a ride.

We need to see an era where the professional is hired by the politician for pure skill and not to use him or her for petty political gains. We need to usher in an era where the professional is valued for the knowledge he brings on to the discussion table.
The youth with a degree in economics or finance should be quick to pick up the fact that when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) grants a loan that money doesn’t come in the form of physical money. 

It serves as a credit line which is afforded to the country in question to pay existing debtors and continue having a supply of essential goods and services. For the record when the lawmaker who is associated with the word ‘gold’ appeared on television and made the statement that in the past the monies that came via the IMF loan would have been used to raise physical cash and be distributed to voters, he was quickly put in his place by an alert MP from the Red Party.
Ambitious lawmakers are driving the message to people that only they can ensure ‘certainty’ in a struggling Sri Lanka. A survivor from the Renaissance period if he lived today would affirm that ‘if everything is possible, nothing is certain’.