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Lack of Lecturers, facilities hinder local Higher Education
View(s):Lack of facilities and competent lecturers has affected the higher education system in the country, said top officials of educational institutes.
The disclosure was made at a meeting held at the Higher Education Ministry, Nawala on Wednesday (14). between Higher Education Minister, S.B. Dissanayake, Higher Education Ministry Secretary, Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratna and National Center for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, Director Dr R.M.K. Ratnayake and the Directors of 17 institutes, to discuss problems they face and to finalise the strategic plans of the institutes.
Postgraduate Institute of English Director, Dr Hemamala Rathnayake said that there is a dearth of skilled lecturers and the lack of subject knowledge even among the graduates of national universities, makes it difficult for them to function well.
“In our institute, there is a dearth of lecturers qualified in different disciplines in applied linguistic, while in Sri Lanka there are only five PhDs in this field. This is a major issue that we are facing,” she said.
In addition, Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Acting Director Prof Rizvi Sheriff said that the institutes have more persons serving in acting positions than permanent ones. He said that this is a huge shortcoming in the education system that needs to be addressed immediately.
“I have been the acting director for the past one-and-half-months but had two acting SARs. We don’t have enough people to run these institutes. We should step up the production of these people,” Prof Sheriff said.
Reflecting on this, a professor of the institute said that, when they advertise, most lecturers are reluctant to apply for the post due to the low salaries, as they are more interested in higher wages afforded to lecturers from other universities.
Another issue addressed at the discussion was the institute ordinance and circulars presented by the government. Post Graduate Institute of Agriculture, Director Prof Colin N. Peiris said that they are trying to be as self financed as possible because the government’s circulars restrict them from functioning freely.
He said that they are trying to bring in foreign students into the country. However, because of the lack of facilities such as hostels, they are presently seeking solutions to this. Prof. Peiris also said that there are other universities that offer these subjects, but are of poor quality, which has become a barrier to them.
Minister Dissanayake said that the issues presented will be addressed to improve Sri Lanka’s education system.
Commenting on the event, Ministry Secretary Dr Navaratna said that it will help the higher education sector of the country to explore new horizons. “This was the first time in the history of Sri Lanka, that Directors of Educational Institutes, their Board Members, the UGC and the Higher Education Ministry met under one roof, to discuss the shortcomings in the sector. We believe that this will pave the way to a successful education system, and make the country the knowledge hub of Asia,” he said.
He said that the discussion was targeted to understand the major strengths, and also the issues these institutes have.
The institutes that took part in the event, function under a local university, are partly self financed, and also aided by the government. Among the institutes present that day were Post Graduate Institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya; Gampaha Wickramarachchi Ayurvedic Institute, University of Kelaniya; Institute of Indigenous Medicine, University of Colombo and Post Graduate Institute of Science, University of Peradeniya. Each member of an institute was allotted 10 minutes to discuss their issues and their future plans. (AW)
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