Universities in crisis - Kabir

Security officer paid Rs. 93,000 but a don only Rs. 45,000

November 22, 2012, 7:03 am , The Island

by Saman Indrajith

Former Tertiary Education Minister, UNP Parliamentarian Kabir Hashim, yesterday charged that the University Grants Commission (UGC) was interfering with everything in the higher education sector but had failed to perform the duties entrusted to it.

Taxes on a Lamborghini amounted to around Rs. 125 million and they had been waived, the MP said. "That amount alone is sufficient to cover the university students’ scholarship expenditure for one year. The university teachers’ struggle for a better pay is very reasonable.

An officer in charge of Rakna Lanka security services in universities draws a monthly salary of Rs. 93,000 while a university lecturer draws only a monthly salary of Rs. 45, 000," MP Hashim said.

Speaking during the committee stage of the budget debate on the Ministry of Higher Education, Hashim lamented that the funds allocated from the budget for the higher education sector were not sufficient to ensure the smooth functioning of the universities. "Only Rs 1,000 million has been allocated for the higher education sector from this budget. This amount will not be sufficient to increase the salaries of university teachers. The government has allocated only 2.4 percent of the GDP for education. Thus, it shows that the struggle, the university teachers engaged in, has not yielded the desired results and it could be predicted that there will be more agitations," he said.