• Edu Min. to fill retirees’ vacancies in unis  

Minister of Education attorney Dr. Susil Premajayantha said on Tuesday (6) that the Ministry of Education has already taken measures to grant interest-free loans to the seventh batch of undergraduates who study in non-State universities following discussions held with the Bank of Ceylon (BOC), the People’s Bank, and the National Savings Bank (NSB).

Speaking in Parliament in response to a question raised by Opposition Parliamentarian Dullas Alahapperuma on the status of the granting of the loan scheme for private university undergraduates, he also said that they have already completed the same with the sixth batch and that they have now been facilitated under the programme for nearly one year.

Dr. Premajayantha also said that the delay in the granting of the loan for the seventh batch was mainly caused by the recent increase in interest rates from 9% to 20%, but that they have discussed with two other State banks, namely, the People’s Bank and the NSB, apart from the BOC. However, he said that the BOC is yet to inform a final decision to the Ministry in this regard. “We have already granted loans for the sixth batch through the BOC and 4,000-5,000 undergraduates have been facilitated by it. When we were about to continue the process with the seventh batch, we had to halt it for some months because of the increase in interest rates as a result of the economic crisis. Now, we have divided the number of students among three State banks and we hope to grant loans as soon as we get the proposal from the BOC,” he said.

Meanwhile, Opposition and Samagi Jana Balawegaya Leader Sajith Premadasa questioned Dr. Premajayantha on several issues prevailing in the university system such as the lack of university teachers and other facilities, issues in the Mahapola scholarship and the controversy in connection with the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ruhuna.

Responding to him, Dr. Premajayantha said that the Ministry has already collected the relevant data and is taking steps to fill the retirement vacancies first. “A total of 9,131 university teachers are needed for the university system. But, there are only 7,061 teachers, making a shortfall of 2,070 teachers. But, this is totally different with the number of university teachers required according to the international criteria,” he said.

He also noted that the identification of the undergraduates who are in need of the Mahapola scholarship is in its final stage and that around 16,000 undergraduates who are in the 2021-2022 intake will be benefitted. He also said that the University Grants Commission has informed all the universities to make a programme to facilitate the undergraduates from families with a low income until they receive the Mahapola scholarship.