SRI LANKA
A disconnect between the needs of Sri Lanka’s Public Service and the qualifications churned out by the country’s universities is leading to a crisis for the Government.
Thousands of arts graduates have flocked onto the streets demanding State jobs, but few have the qualifications required for the posts available.
In Jaffna, more than 4,000 graduates from State universities have been waiting years for jobs. In the latest round of interviews 1,253 graduates were officially recruited with 950 sent letters of appointment and told to report to work.
As an example, one graduate who completed his major in fine arts has been sent to the Irrigation Department.
District Secretary at Jaffna, N. Vedanayahan admitted the majority of the unemployed graduates were arts graduates when the Government really wanted more science graduates.
“Since all the vacant cadre positions at the District Secretariat are filled, we are planning to assign them to various Departments for purposes such as project monitoring and research that come under Provincial or Central Governments,” Mr Vedanayahan said.
One of the solutions has been to create more Development Officers (DOs), supposedly to assist local communities in a range of projects, from electrification to digging wells.
The appointment of unemployed graduates in these positions comes in the face of the Auditor-General’s grave concerns about the performance of DOs already in State service following year-long internships at various Departments.
In a recent report, the Auditor-General’s Department said the Public Service had ballooned with the enrolment of graduates as DOs and the efficiency of these recruits was a matter of great concern.
It found that although DO service is considered field work, some 22 per cent of DO workers never left their desks.
More than 86 per cent of those officers were arts graduates and three-quarters of them were female.
Colombo, 5 August, 2019
