During the recent meeting between President Ranil Wickremesinghe and British Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the President broadly shared his plans to introduce private universities to the Sri Lankan education system.

Over the past few decades, we all have continuously heard the resistance against establishing private universities, raised by parties in favour of education being a completely State-owned sector.

Yet, we rarely hear from the affected parties – especially those who pass the General Certificate of Education (G.C.E.) Advance Level (A/L) examination. According to Department of Examination comments and statistics, over 166,000 students have qualified to enter universities this year following their success at the GCE A/L exam 2022. Yet according to many surveys done since 2020, on an average, 20% of the qualified student populace receive the chance to enter a Sri Lankan university. What should the balance 80% do, despite being successful in their efforts? What future can they hope for? The nature of competitive examinations – which Sri Lanka uses to gate-keep entrance to public-funded, free higher education – leaves behind a majority of Sri Lankans, and with it, diminishes future human capital of the island.

Students, who are 17-18 year-old youth, struggle through nearly two or three years – under multi-faceted pressure – preparing for the G.C.E. A/L examination, dreaming for a bright future. Crippled over the years under family and school pressure, youth who fall into the unable-to-enter-university category – the 80% segment mentioned above – would face an unimaginably hopeless state. This is an annual process, an addition. As a solution, some of them, with family support, migrate for higher education. The lack of similar opportunities back in their motherland triggers the mass departure. Given the current volatile socioeconomic situation, parents – fearing an unknown future for their children – would go to extreme lengths to finance them to be educated and settled in a better environment, in a foreign country.

The debate over establishing private universities in Sri Lanka gained traction early this year as the Government decided to establish three private universities. Further, the mass migration of youth for higher education in foreign countries following the economic collapse seems to have added fuel to the traction. And with the recent actions of the President, it is obvious that the Government will proceed further.

It is obvious now, for the betterment of the future generation, to end the debate among the parties at loggerheads. The timely decision would be to establish a proper system for this private education sector, ensuring its transparency and accountability. The priority should be providing a better education for the future generation who wish to aspire in tertiary education.

And the time has arrived for the opposing parties to comprehend the actual ground situation, and understand that limited Government resources could be utilised to provide free education selectively to focused groups within our communities – thereby empowering the needy and vulnerable. The pursuit of education for all will require naysayers to compromise. Stiff resistance based on tunnel vision will not help the mass of students in Sri Lanka.

Policy decision makers must realise that establishing a privatised higher education system is not just a business development but a process of creating a benefitting platform to empower the future generation of the country. As such, a robust regulatory system and a well-planned national education strategy – geared at “future-proofing” our younger generation – is needed to be put in place for private universities to meet national objectives. Further, the State must, in the coming years, invest more in education. While governments talk of improving areas of study such as: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), there should also be a realisation that humanities and arts remain a cornerstone of culture and civilisation, and as such, should also be fostered.

If Sri Lanka is serious about acting swiftly to prepare our most valuable resource – the human resource – for the future landscape, private education, education reforms, robust regulation and accountability, and funding, will be paramount.