 |
| Anura Kumara Dissanayake |
The National List MP warned that universities would lose their qualified staff to private institutions in the country. For a long time, the country had experienced the loss of qualified professionals to top level educational institutions overseas, once the government gave in to private universities the situation would be worse, Dissanayake told the parliament.
Participating in debate on the Higher Education Ministry’s budgetary allocations for the next year, MP Dissanayake said that many academics, who had gone overseas on educational scholarships failed to return.
The MP said that senior lecturers in India and Pakistan received far better salaries than their Sri Lankan counterparts. According to him, the monthly salary of a senior lecturer in India was equivalent to Sri Lankan Rupees 117,000 in Pakistan SLR 237,000, whereas a Sri Lankan received only 56,510 rupees.
The JVPer said that Higher education Minister S. B. Dissanayake had failed to honour his promise to give a pay hike to university dons. An irate Dissanayake said that the opening of private universities would be the end of free education in the country.
He said that Minister Dissanayake had received higher education thanks to free education in the country, though he was now trying to deny the same privilege to others. Had it not been for free education, MP Dissanayake would be a farmer today toiling in a farm, the JVP MP said.
The same could be said of chairman of the University Grants Commission, Prof. Gamini Samaranayake, he said.
Courtesy - The Island - By Saman Indragith
