FUTA demand for 6 % of GDP for education: Free education not factored in – govt.

August 30, 2012, 9:59 pm , The Island

By Ravi Ladduwahetty

The Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) had not taken the component of free education, in calling upon the government to allocate 6 per cent of the GDP to the education sector, the government charged yesterday.

The FUTA was demanding that the government spend 6 per cent of the GDP on education as in the developed countries in the West, but it had not factored in free education at primary, secondary and tertiary education level, Media Minister and government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told the weekly Cabinet news conference at the government Information Department auditorium yesterday.

The Minister said the people who were clamouring for higher fund allocations for the education sector talked only about funds allocated from national budget but they failed to take cognisance of the funds provided by the Finance Commission to Provincial Councils.

Minister Rambukwella said out of 9,700 schools in Sri Lanka only 330 were maintained by the government while the others were run by the Provincial Councils. "How many of them have factored in the quantum of funds allocated for tuition classes and the funds parents pay on behalf of their children for education in private and international schools?" the Minister queried.