Colombo for better pastures

Despite many educational institutes mushrooming in the hill capital, there is an increasing trend of the younger generation leaving Kandy for higher education.

“The younger generation of Kandy does not have a choice, especially for higher education. If they want to groom themselves, they have to be in Colombo,” the head of a top educational institute in Kandy, said.

Some stockbrokers at the Kandy branch of the Colombo Stock Exchange also noted this trend, saying that nowadays the youngsters in Kandy are compelled to set base in Colombo. “There are only a handful of good firms in Kandy and young people are very aggressive nowadays in terms of job opportunities. So they usually go to Colombo which has more opportunities than here,” Arjuna Wilbawa, Head of Branch, Lanka Orix Securities (Pvt) Ltd, said.

He said that initially they go to Colombo ‘only to work,’ but realities of life make them migrate to Colombo.“The war, economy and lack of quality education have prompted an increasing number of young people to migrate. This is possible because some can afford to go overseas and many have the contacts, know-how and someone to sponsor,” a stockbroker commented.