Shrinking education spending, income erosion rank high among concerns

The unevenly rising prices and surge in demand for goods and services in the face of an erosion of income have created hardships among the working class.

A string of demands has been placed ahead of the budget, while strikes and protests are continuing.

The Ven. Tempitiye Sugathananda Thera, general secretary of the Joint Health Workers Union (JHWU), told the Sunday Times that their demands mainly spanned 10 requests, including a Rs. 20,000 allowance or pay raise through the 2024 budget.

“Public sector pay was frozen for seven years for all. The typical workweek is around 40 hours for a state-sector employee and 44 hours in the private sector. Yet, certain government workers are required to be on-site 48 hours per week without any pay increases. We wish to see the existing sixday workweek come to an end or better pay,” he said.

“All state-sector staff are entitled to some form of payment for over 40 hours in a week. When government employees are not paid accordingly, they have the right to request an increase in wages or recover the lost pay,” Ven Sugathananda said.

The workforce shortfall is increasingly hitting the public sector, with trade unions and organisations demanding solutions.

The Thera said that there is a healthcare worker shortage of 170 in the Colombo South (Kalubowila) Teaching Hospital, which has not been filled, and the skills shortage is 6,700 amid a recruitment freeze since 2019.

He said commercial fraud takes place when hospitals lack essential pharmaceutical drugs.

Sri Lanka’s healthcare sector is confronting a dearth of skilled workers, with 1,500 doctors and specialists having already left the country, media spokesman of the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) Dr. Chamil Wijesinghe said.

Dr. Wijesinghe stressed that brain drain is a huge concern. The high attrition rate explains the concerns among both health personnel and patients about services.

There are 20,000 government doctors, and about 5,000 have completed the medical licensing examinations in the United Kingdom, Australia, and West Asia.

It has been reported that the cardiology unit of Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital consists of eight medical officers, and six of them have concluded the said exams, whereas, in a certain ward in the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL), 15 of the 20 medical officers have completed the exams and are awaiting emigration.

The Professionals Trade Union Alliance, including the GMOA and many other state-level trade unions, further voiced concerns over the government-imposed inequitable tax overhaul, including

Protests and strikes have increased ahead of the Budget. Pix by Indika Handuwala and M.A. Pushpa Kumara

the PAYE Tax.

“Income generation has made no progress, although taxes and expenses are skyrocketing. However, pushing workers into higher tax brackets would not reduce inflation,” they stressed.

Emerging issues within the energy sector have gained attention lately.

Ranjan Jayalal, general secretary of the Ceylon Electricity Workers’ Union (CEWU), expressed disappointment regarding certain decisions that the Ministry of Power and Energy is leaning towards.

“While illustrating the picture of the restructuring of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to the public, the ministry intends to denationalise the CEB, including the R1, R2, R3, and R4 power distribution regions, to 17 private companies. In addition, sources say that the Lanka Electricity Company (LECO) is at the disposal of India’s TATA Group, while the transmission and generation branch is directed towards the Adani Group. Moreover, Sri Lanka’s renewable energy power plants are being fixed on seven private entities, while the Lakvijaya Power Station in Norochcholai is aimed at a Chinese company. The government is geared towards bringing it all to a conclusion before the budget,” Mr. Jayalal said.

Warning that he fears possible blackouts, Mr. Jayalal said a pay raise is barely visible quarterly, although electricity tariffs will be revised every three months. Although the government says that this significant shift in the electricity tariff review process intends to provide greater flexibility to regulate electricity costs, it has made people unplug appliances in their households.

The CEWU calls on the government to mark down the increases in tariffs.

He said complications within the power sector arise due to the absence of strategic government policies and resolutions that are taken in a forward-looking manner.

Although a generation plan is formulated annually for 20 years by power and energy engineers, Mr. Jayalal said Parliament’s goahead continues to be unsettled due to the ulterior motives of ministers.

In the meantime, analysts emphasise that tertiary education in Sri Lanka is in a state of crisis.

Professor Barana Jayawardena, president of the Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA), said funding for state universities has been cut.

"The government provided Rs. 70 billion of total funding for state universities in 2019 and Rs. 69 billion in 2021. Thus, 2021 saw a 5% decrease. Usually, about 30,000 undergraduates sign up annually. As of now, the government intends to enrol 59,000 undergraduates this year, a 25% increase, but it is evident that it has not been given due recognition for the overall appropriations for the year. In a context of enhanced competition for public resources, funding efficiency in a country's higher education should be expanded,” Prof. Jayawardena said.

He said that about 798 UGCaffiliated staff resigned during the last two years, and those who remain are expected to emigrate. The FUTA is seeking an increase in funds for state-run universities through the 2024 budget.

He expressed concerns about the Mahapola student scholarship allowances.