Modern scientific and technological changes have enabled online education as an integral part of the education system in the contemporary world. Although online learning system was influential in the pre-Covid 19 periods to a certain extent, it has become an inevitable part of the teaching and learning process of higher education sectors during the Covid-19 era. As the Covid-19 posed enormous challenges on the traditional higher education system, there was a desperate need globally for every government to incorporate online education into their higher education system. However, online education was not given much importance in the Sri Lankan higher education sector before the Covid-19. But, the closure of universities due to Covid-19 had prompted the government of Sri Lanka to promote the online mode of education as an alternative solution to continue higher education activity during a crisis. Thus, online education has presently become an essential component of Sri Lanka's higher education sector. Nevertheless, there are many obstacles and challenges confronting the higher education sectors, particularly in the universities of Sri Lanka to perpetuate online education successfully. Against this backdrop, this study attempts to give an insight into the impact of Covid-19 on the teaching and learning process of South Eastern University of Sri Lanka, and the challenges faced by the university in perpetuating online education system during the Covid-19. The findings of the study show that the university encountered several challenges in terms of online delivery, problems related to practical test via online mode, assessment, examination and supervision of the thesis. The study further highlights issues concerning online teaching and learning environment and a lack of online teaching and learning skills among staff and students that were considered critical to the smooth functioning of teaching and learning process of the South Eastern University of Sri Lanka during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study argues that the university should focus on a hybrid education system to address the issues of online mode of education confronted by staff and students to make the teaching and learning process more effective.

Gaining mastery over the English language by undergraduates of universities has acquired much significance today because it plays a significant role in ensuring their future employability. This is highly relevant to the students of the Faculty of Arts and Culture (FAC), SEUSL, as a majority of them are from rural areas and pursue their degrees in the Tamil medium. Results of English language examinations held in recent years at the faculty indicate the poor command of English language of undergraduates, and the trend appears to be set firmly. Thus, the objective of this study is to explore the factors contributing to the poor performance of students in English language and to examine the ways in which this problem could be addressed. This is a qualitative study consisting of observation, interviews and focus group discussions employed as techniques of data collection. The study argues that the enrolment of students from rural background, psychological dimension of students, and the lack of reading habit among them are the key factors responsible for their poor level of English knowledge. Lack of physical resources such as visual aids, lack of learner centered teaching (LCT) method, and inexperienced teaching panel are also highlighted as additional factors contributing to the poor command of the language that inevitably leads to poor employment prospects for graduates after they pass out. Therefore, this study suggests that the prevailing trend can be reversed by enhancing the students’ self-confidence and changing their attitudes so they will be motivated to learn the language willingly; upgrading the physical as well as human resources available to students in the faculty will provide an additional impetus to enhance their proficiency in English language.

PurposeThere is a significant decrease in students' attendance in Zoom classes compared to traditional classes. This paper investigates the factors that affect students' attitudes, behavioral intentions and actual use of Zoom for online classes at higher educational institutions (HEIs) in Sri Lanka.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses the technology acceptance model (TAM) as a theoretical model. The data are collected from HEI students via an online survey form. The hypotheses between constructs in the model are tested using partial least squared–structural equation model.FindingsThe analysis shows that computer self-efficacy (CSE) affects perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEU), which affects attitude (ATT) and behavioral intention (BI) and actual use (AU) of Zoom in a chain reaction. Further, PEU affects PU, which, in turn, affects BI. Furthermore, the effect size of PU to BI is larger than ATT to BI.Practical implicationsStudents' attendance for Zoom classes mainly depends on CSE, PU and PEU. Therefore, HEIs should promote Zoom with interactive training before teaching online. Further, officials should revise the curriculum in schools to upsurge the CSE of students.Originality/valueDuring coronavirus-19, no research was published on students' use of Zoom for online classes in the Sri Lankan context. Moreover, the TAM model has been modified by including CSE as an external variable.

Although Sri Lanka has 51% women, their participation in local governance as well as in the national parliament is 5% in total. The strong social development indicator of women in areas such as health and education has not translated into their increased political participation. As such, this study focuses on the level of women’s participation in local governance and explores why there is a low level of political participation of women in local governance. Both quantitative and qualitative methods comprising of questionnaire survey, interviews and focus group discussions were employed in this study. The findings show organized collective involvement of women was effective only in social welfare, livelihood and social security than political participation. The study also reveals that the low level of political participation by women is attributable to biological, economic, psychological, religious and political factors. Overall, it was found that although women are interested in participating in local governance, they have a lack of space for political participation.

Sri Lanka saw an unprecedented degree of anti-Muslim sentiment followed by violence perpetrated by certain extremist elements in recent years. This article primarily examines the implications of anti-Muslim violence that occurred from Aluthgama to Digana and the causes behind the violence. The article shows that anti-Muslim sentiment is manifested in several dimensions: campaigns against Halal, Muslim attire, cattle slaughter, and attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned businesses. This manifestation has resulted in violence against Muslims, causing massive damages to their properties. The study argues that fear of growing Muslim population, economic competition with Muslims, Mahavamsa mentality, and exceptionalism to Buddhist clergies, fear of Islam, and formation of ethnic-based political parties are the causes of anti-Muslim sentiment which later culminated in the form of violence. Therefore, the government needs to enforce law and order equally on all citizens and ensure a policy of multiculturalism and tolerance is strictly maintained.

Caste exists in all South Keywords: caste discrimination, education, globalization, Islamism, Islam in Sri LankaCaste system, which has been in existence in South Asia over the past three millennia and is an integral part of Hindu ethos, social structure and cultural traditions, is a unique hierarchical system of social stratification. Among the different social stratifications exist in the society, caste can be named as one of them. The term caste was derived from Spanish word 'casta' meaning breed or race (Farook 2012). Caste system is basically a way of dividing people into different social classes ranking them in a range between the highest and the lowest (Rao 2010). To be precise, it is based on the varna system comprising of four-fold division of society as well as smaller, innumerable units within the hierarchy, which are called jatis in Tamil. The overarching system of social hierarchy as represented by the varna model suggests an idealized and oversimplified picture of society. The varna model is fraught with ambiguities. The various Brahman jatis, for example, are not only endogamous but are also ranked in terms of high and low. Various jati clusters, which are generally perceived as homogenous are in fact internally differentiated and have a ranking hierarchy of their own (Dube 2010).

Although Sri Lanka made attempts to adopt policies of decentralization and democratic governance to enhance citizens' trust, the efforts had yielded very little success. As such, this study attempts to assess the level of citizens' trust in public institutions in the eastern province of Sri Lanka and explores the factors contributing to the decline of citizens' trust in public institutions. Both qualitative and quantitative methods consisting of questionnaire survey, in-depth-interview and focus group discussion as data collection techniques were employed in this study. Overall, it was found that the people have little trust in the public institutions due to lack of awareness, discrimination in terms of ethnicity, undue delay, lack of modern facilities and political influence. Thus, it is paramount on the part of government to address these challenges to restore the trust among the citizens on these public institutions.

It is generally believed that sociology originated in Europe in the 19th century and the paternity of the discipline is commonly attributed to the French sociologist August Comte. However, reflections of a sociological nature were observed and found in the work of 14th century North African historian and philosopher Ibn Khaldun. However, such contribution of Ibn Khaldun is little acknowledged by European scholars in their works. Therefore, this paper attempts to examine how Eurocentrism is embedded in the writing of the European scholars and unpacks the contribution of Ibn Khaldun in the growth of Sociology. In the first part of essay, I argue that the perspective of European scholars are mainly Eurocentric and parochial in their accounts on culture, language and other aspects of non-European society. In the second part of the essay, I argue Ibn Khaldun’s contribution to the field of sociology is largely ignored, though his contributions dealt with the society and human character, political organization and government, differences between rural and urban populations, kinship, social solidarity, and the interplay between economic conditions and social organizations. Nevertheless, I argue that though Ibn Khaldun’s ideas have hugely impressed some of European thinkers in the 19th century prompting them to regard him as the progenitor of sociology, question remains as to how his ideas and theories have been appropriated by contemporary social scientists in their works.