Focus on the big picture

EVERYONE agrees that for a country to become developed, its people must gain better education. Education is usually dispensed and founded upon the education system, particularly the higher education system, regarding technology and expertise advancements. Research and development in particular is the responsibility of universities that assimilate the needed knowledge for an economy to grow. The highest point of this is transforming the economy to a knowledge-based one, where optimised services become the greatest export.

However, when it comes to Sri Lanka, there are more than a few hiccups. One of these is the quality of higher education available, its restrictiveness and incapacity to dispense to the masses. A direct reason for this is the fact that university teachers are not encouraged with international standard remuneration and therefore face challenges of brain drain as well as insufficient resources to dispense up-to-date knowledge to their students. Decades of substandard treatment finally came to a head and prolonged trade union action commenced with Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) taking the lead.

On Monday FUTA met with Finance Ministry officials headed by Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera to discuss salary levels for teachers junior to senior professors. The discussions ended in a stalemate and the unions vowed to continue their protests. According to FUTA, President Mahinda Rajapaksa at a previous meeting had agreed to increase senior professor salaries to around Rs. 115,000. Given that it takes decades of study to become a senior professor, this amount seems nominal and abundantly fair.

Other salary levels have remained at a mediocre state for a long time. Sri Lanka has the worst paid university teachers in the region with junior lecturers getting as little as Rs. 20,700 and pay strictly regulated by the Government. This has also prompted many professors to seek greener pastures overseas. Given the need for higher standards of education, it is disappointing that the Government is not taking steps to assist the university teachers to benefit from better salary scales.

Admittedly, the woes of the university system cannot be solved so easily. Nonetheless, one aspect that must be addressed is having quality teachers who are well regulated, funded and encouraged to meet higher standards so that their students can gain a better education. The Government will have an extra cost to bear; but this is also the same Government that recently approved Rs. 20 billion for a new defence headquarters that will do little to benefit the masses.

Almost 2% of GDP is annually squandered on loss-making State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and an expense of US$ 5 billion is planned for the Commonwealth Games. If the Government is willing to exhaust so much of funds for nonessentials, then surely the demands of the university teachers is a fair one that will benefit the entire country in its march towards development.

Politics within the university system also needs to be cut out, with due prominence being given to dons who are well qualified as opposed to giving appointments based on seniority. The cobwebs of mismanagement, chicanery and stagnation need to be swept out. New monitoring, standards and governance systems can be set up in return for higher salaries. A give and take policy where only deserving university teachers command higher salaries can be a reality if the Government focuses on the big picture. At the very least, money can be saved by not giving appointments to unemployed graduates if the universities improve their standards.