‘Only six percent entering Sri Lanka higher education’

Skilling and improved human resources are crucial in Government’s economic vision but Sri Lanka is facing a supply crunch in such skilled personnel.

“Reports show that low number of students are entering into our higher education system” said the Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen on 30 May. Addressing a graduation ceremony of a private education institution called Amazon College at BMICH, Minister Bathiudeen stressed that more skilled personnel are essential to move forward government’s economic development plans.

“As the Minister for Industries I have observed that we lack trained professionals and talented youth with high quality education. In a background of the Unity government of HE President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe attempting to move Sri Lanka to higher middle income levels by accessing competitive global markets, productivity levels of the country and various economic sectors have gained greater importance. It is well known that improved skills leads to higher productivity and therefore more and more skilled graduates can play a leading role in taking Sri Lanka to higher income levels. Reports show that the number of students entering into our higher education system at 20 percent, and the net higher education enrolment rate, even lower at only 6.6 percent. Therefore a large number of students miss out on higher educational opportunities. One reason for this is the lack of a parallel higher education system and private educational institutions have come to the fore fulfilling this need.”

Even international agencies call for more skilled human resources to support Sri Lanka’s way forward. Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough, World Bank County Director for Sri Lanka and Maldives said last year: “Sri Lanka’s aspiration to rise to an Upper Middle Income Country status depends on how skilled and versatile its people are.”