Brain drain: Draining Sri Lanka’s economic and social progress

The findings of a recent study undertaken by two academics attached to Peradeniya University – Prof. Wasantha Athukorala and Lakshman Kumara – analysing the migration patterns of Sri Lankan state university graduates with a focus on science and related disciplines is an eye opener to the gravity of the exodus of top-quality human talent from the country. The research had found that over 50% of graduates from government campuses – including many from science, engineering, and agriculture faculties – leave for greener pastures forever.

The researchers had collected data from the 19 government universities across Sri Lanka to arrive at their conclusions. Only limited details of the study were reported by The Daily Mirror newspaper recently, and no formal academic publication has been made available regarding the analysis. Hence, how the sample was determined and what was the methodology adopted for the research are still unknown, resulting in few observers raising doubts about the accuracy of the findings. However, the empirical evidence clearly affirms that the rate of educated people leaving the island has accelerated over the last few years, particularly from 2021 onwards when the signs of the economic crisis were gaining visibility.

Meanwhile, the recent statement by the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union that nearly 20% of CEB engineers have migrated overseas over the past few years, securing top positions with lucrative salaries and benefits echoes the results of the aforementioned research. According to the trade union, 226 CEB engineers have left the island and attained highly sought-after occupations in countries like Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland. Out of the people who had left the CEB, most of them had been electrical engineers (85%) while the others had been mechanical engineers (8%) and civil engineers (7%).

Various explanations have been offered as to why people are abandoning their land of birth in quest to seek a better life elsewhere. Most of those who migrate do so out of their desire to provide a top-quality education to their children at a reasonable cost. The highly exam-centred, competitive education system does not make Sri Lanka a good place for a happy childhood. The absence of a well-developed public transportation system, dreadful as well as frequent road accidents together with awful traffic are added reasons for people to find an escape route. Some may be induced to settle down in a utopian country devoid of third-world limitations such as shanties, piled-up garbage in public places, dengue mosquitoes, etc.

State university graduates represent a privileged minority whose higher education was entirely financed by taxpayers. In addition, some of the eligible graduates were given financial assistance through bursaries and Mahapola scholarships. In the backdrop of a significant number of graduates, who receive free higher education from the State, leaving their motherland without serving the general public, the prevailing system whereby the Government does not charge fees from students in government campuses needs to be revisited. Some have even dubbed the state university system as a development assistance program for rich countries in the West.

An aspect which is frequently overlooked is that state university graduates have always been at the forefront of public agitations that oppose the establishment of private universities. Moreover, professional associations like the Sri Lanka Medical Association, which is driven by medical professionals educated from government universities, purposefully obstruct MBBS graduates of foreign universities from practicing as medical practitioners. Such regressive actions have stalled the progress of the nation for decades.

Sadly, the departure of graduates in the fields of engineering and agriculture is a huge setback, as those professions are quite critical for a country like us to move forward. In view of the enormous financial and social costs associated with brain drain, the present status-quo of the state university education system needs to be reviewed and avenues of introducing mechanisms like financial bonds or charging reasonable course fees need to be explored.