Educated MPs

A jaw-dropping 94 Members of Parliament (MPs) have not passed their Ordinary Level examination while only 25 among the 225 legislators in the present Sri Lankan Parliament are graduates. This situation is absolutely shocking in a country that has maintained high literacy levels and an impressively high level of postgraduate qualification holders when compared to the size of its population in South Asia.   

The observation was made by former Peradeniya University Prof. M.O.A. de Zoysa, according to a report. Everyone knows why education is good for individuals. The promises of college graduation range from the poetic (intellectual stimulation and love of learning) to utilitarian (increased earning and power potential), but everyone seems to know that educated individuals stand to gain something. 

What does society gain from educated politicians? One reason why Government improves is that citizens complain about public officials who mistreat them: policemen who beat them up, officials who demand bribes, teachers who do not show up. A public official choosing to break rules must trade off the risk of being disciplined, no matter how small for each individual complaint, against the benefits of misconduct. As citizens’ complaints proliferate, the risk of an investigation and disciplinary action rises. 

As education levels in a country rise, so does the number of complaints when officials misbehave, which raises the expected costs of misconduct and thus encourages better behavior—asking for fewer bribes, avoiding abusing people, showing up to work. There is a clear link between developed countries having better educated politicians than developing countries.  

Another clear reason is that educated politicians would know more about global advancements and have the capacity to formulate progressive policy, direct economic growth and promote governance better than their uneducated counterparts. Politicians without formal education qualifications have risen to prominence in Sri Lanka and elsewhere but their staying power depends on being able to understand and cater to public expectations. Any politician who is not savvy enough to understand the public pulse is inevitably pushed out of office. 

Education should also not be limited to politicians. Around the world countries like Qatar have proved that growth is possible, despite not being a democracy. Qatar and other non-democratic countries have fostered growth by choosing highly educated public officials and also ensuring their royal family members attend the best universities around the world. In this way they connect local aspirations to global education. 

Other countries such as Singapore limit the number of politicians but attract highly educated professionals from around the world by offering excellent salaries and living conditions to draft and implement Government policy. 

Gaining access to education is a fluid process and must remain so because education itself evolves incredibly fast. But every country must maintain a strong link to it. In Sri Lanka, even if all politicians cannot be educated they have to be willing to listen to educated policymakers, something which does not happen. Even educated public officials at numerous Government departments and agencies are disregarded in policymaking to the detriment of the country. 

The only way this abyss can be bridged is by educated Sri Lankans demanding more of their representatives and insisting they comply with higher standards. If “dissent is the highest form of patriotism” as is often said, complaint might be the height of public service.