Salaries of University academics and those of other state sectors

September 9, 2012, 12:00 pm , The Island


Much has been written about the struggle of the University teachers for policy changes in the education sector and for an increase in their salaries. This letter is not to add to what has already been said but to point out certain false notions perpetrated by the authorities, particularly on the demand for a 20% increase of their basic salaries. Those on the government side argue that such action would result in others in similar categories agitating for the same kind of increase. My basic premise is that the University teachers get only their salaries and no other perks such as housing, official vehicles, telephone allowances and many other perks compared to equivalent senior executive grade officers. Also, the University lecturers have now been made to pay income tax, a practice abolished by an earlier UNP government. Many government institutions such as the banks, electricity board, water board etc. pay the income tax of their employees, a benefit not extended to academics. 
 
 Prof. J.N.O.Fernando made the valid point (Island September 5) that it is not fair to compare our salaries with those of judges and other administrators like secretaries of ministries because of the other monetary benefits such as official cars, housing and telephones for private use which these officers get. Not only that, they are entitled to take their official cars home upon retirement after paying a pittance to the Government stores. On the salary issue, why cannot these people who oppose increasing salaries of academics look at the salaries of the Central bank employees who are paid nearly twice what an academic gets. A senior lecturer equivalent in the central bank gets about Rs. 150,000 a month while the one in the University gets only around Rs. 60,000. In the old days, those recruited to the central bank were placed at a lower scale than the University academics so as to attract the best quality graduates as academics. Central bank employees also get both provident fund and pension benefits upon retirement while the University academics get only the provident fund. Central bank is perhaps the only Government Institution which pays the full cost of training abroad to get their postgraduate degrees, a facility which the University academics had in the 1970’s. In a recent advertisement for management trainees at the Central Bank, the salary during training was given as Rs. 50,000 a month while it will be not less thanRs. 90,000 just after one year of training. People who try to compare salaries should think about these glaring discrepancies to understand the plight of the University academics. Also, those who lament about deteriorating standards of Universities should take cognizance of these facts. 
 
 Leave aside the Central bank, salaries of other state Institutions give ample proof that money is not a limitation in paying their employees. Even a clerk or a meter reader at the Electricity Board with just GCE(A.L) qualifications gets around Rs. 60,000 a month compared to around Rs. 30,000, which a starting lecturer in the University gets. This is the crux of the problem and no wonder that the exodus of highly qualified graduates find University service so unattractive. It is time that our policy makers understand these realities and settle the present strike action of University teachers without further delay. This has already affected the future of thousands of undergraduates and will also affect thousands of students who sat the GCE(A.L.) Examination. Politicians are not affected by the current strike since most of their children study abroad and it is the sons and daughters of the common man who voted such politicians into power who are affected.
 
 
 
 Prof. O. A.Ileperuma, Senior Professor of Chemistry, University of Peradeniya