• Ministry says vacancies will be filled as they arise

The Government is set to review university staff recruitment every month, with the aim of filling academic and non-academic vacancies as they arise, the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education said.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, Deputy Education Minister Dr. Madhura Senevirathna said the University Subcommittee had decided to conduct monthly reviews of recruitments, while universities had already been given approval to increase their academic and non-academic staff.

“We have given the approval to increase recruitments for both academic and non-academic staff. These recruitments are reviewed monthly. When we notice vacancies, we inform the relevant authorities to recruit more. We are holding discussions per university regarding recruitments. The necessary approval has been given to carry out more recruitments, but the actual hiring is done at the university level,” he said.

Senevirathna also said substantial budgetary allocations had been made for university infrastructure development over the past two years, including hostels, faculty buildings, science laboratories and other facilities.

“For the last two years, we have spent on infrastructure, including hostels, faculty buildings, science laboratories, and other facilities. This year too, we have allocated funds from the budget to build additional faculty buildings and hostels,” he added.

He also dismissed rumours circulating on social media that school teachers with PhDs would receive salaries equivalent to university lecturers in the coming years.

However, the Federation of University Teachers (FUTA) has raised concerns over the lack of recruitment and improvements to university facilities in recent years, warning that the university system has been brought to the brink of collapse.

FUTA has threatened to continue trade union action, including a symbolic protest scheduled for Wednesday (9), to pressure the Government to address these long-standing issues.