FUTA wants to continue discussions with Basil

August 12, 2012, 9:39 pm

by Dasun Edirisinghe, the Island

The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) yesterday said that they would like to continue discussions with Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, as talks with him last week were fruitful.

FUTA President Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri told The Island that Minister Rajapaksa emphasized some valuable points on their demands."Minister Rajapaksa gave us a positive response, at the second round of discussion with him," he said adding they would continue discussions with him while they were on strike.

FUTA’s main demands were that the government allocates 6 per cent of the GDP to the entire education sector, consult university dons when taking decisions on higher education and a pay hike. They launched an all out strike on July 04.

Dr. Devasiri said that officials from the Higher Education Ministry and University Grants Commission (UGC) did not participate in the discussions. Minister Rajapaksa, Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, Dhamma Dissanayake, Dr. Jagath Wellawatte and Dr. Charitha Herath participated from the government side and seven members from FUTA.

He said that it was sad to note that the Higher Education Ministry and the UGC were silent on the issue.

"Our executive committee will prepare our response to Minister Rajapaksa before the next round of discussion," the senior academic said.