Funds for education

Governments change but higher education sector problems do not, it would seem, as a Court this week issued a second interim order to prevent protests outside Parliament. 

The Court order comes just days after the National Government presented a Budget in Parliament that raised education expenditure significantly as a percentage of GDP. Even though the numbers have been muddied by subsequent Opposition analysis, the improvements that could be afforded through the fresh funds remain important. However, in a somewhat contradictory move, the Government has also proposed to set up a new Mahapola University to honour former UNP politician Lalith Athulathmudali. 

Many would not have an issue with marking the life and work of a well-known personality who started the landmark Mahapola scholarship programme, but the cost setting up a new university would place on the taxpayer would be seen as prohibitive. Moreover, endless protests by students and graduates show there are many other problems that need to be tackled by the authorities and policymakers, which can be aided by better managed with funds allocated for the Mahapola University.        

Sri Lanka’s unique sense of entitlement also means that even after free education there are demands for public employment from the public. The protest that was prevented from being held was by unemployed graduates who are demanding the Government hire them for thousands of jobs that are left vacant irrespective of the fact that Sri Lanka already has about 1.3 million State jobs.

There have been many explanations for unemployment among the educated youth in Sri Lanka. The most well-known is that there is a skills mismatch owing to the education system not producing the skills the labour market needs. Another explanation is that the public sector employment and wage policies in the country lead to a queuing behaviour among the youth for these “attractive” jobs. The stringent labour market regulations and inflexibility, it is argued, limit employment creation, as firms prefer not to employ persons who cannot be easily discontinued. This may have led to the choice of capital intensive techniques rather than labour intensive ones.

Especially with respect to the educated unemployed, there is a mismatch between the expectations of the educated seeking employment and the available employment opportunities and a mismatch between the capacities and skills of available labour and job opportunities. Youth who have secondary education resist taking jobs they feel are below their dignity. They may even prefer to stay unemployed till they get what they consider is a good job.

This mismatch between expectations from their education and jobs available and skills needed is an important factor in creating unemployment among the educated. This mismatch is created by educated youth having a diploma thinking that they have skills they do not possess for available jobs. The need for English language communication skills in private sector employment compounds this problem. The bias for arts education rather than the sciences is a clear instance of producing many more unemployable graduates than those with skills required in the economy.

The recent Police-student standoff is just another reason on a large pile the Government will have to address with prudent management of funds.