- FUTA warns of further action over staff shortages, university crisis
University lecturers will stage a one-day strike today (9) over the mounting crises facing the State university system, the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) said yesterday.
FUTA Secretary Senior Lecturer Charudaththe Illangasinghe said the Federation had engaged in trade union action throughout the past week over concerns including the severe shortage of lecturers and the lack of suitably qualified academic staff.
He said the crisis had reached a point where students who sat the 2025 GCE Advanced Level Examination could not be admitted to State universities due to inadequate academic resources.
Although President Anura Kumara Dissanayake had announced plans to establish 50 new State universities, Illangasinghe said the priority should be to maintain and improve the quality of the existing 17 universities before establishing new institutions.
He said FUTA was awaiting discussions with the Government and stressed that a permanent solution was needed to address the crisis.
Meanwhile, FUTA Assistant Secretary Prof. Aruna Wanninayake told The Daily Morning that Government assurances of increased university recruitment had yet to translate into actual approvals.
“We cannot accept what the Government says about increased recruitments. The universities are not approved to carry out recruitments yet,” he said, describing the Government’s recruitment claim as merely “paperwork”.
The union action comes amid concerns over a severe shortage of qualified academic staff, largely attributed to the migration of lecturers overseas. Remaining academic staff are reportedly facing increased workloads and poor staff-to-student ratios, while university admissions have increased significantly amid declining resources.
Prof. Wanninayake said the absence of “progressive mediation” by the Government had prompted FUTA to escalate its trade union action.
The strike follows a silent protest held last week, after which Deputy Education Minister Dr. Madhura Senevirathna said measures were being taken to increase university recruitment. He also said a monthly review mechanism had been introduced to monitor the timely filling of vacancies.
FUTA warned that today’s strike was a symbolic preliminary action and that more serious trade union action could follow if the Government failed to address the issues confronting the State university system.