65% of state employees lack A/Levels

COLOMBO (News 1^st) - A study by the Department of Census and Statistics has found that 65% of state sector employees lacked Advanced Level qualifications while 17.2% lacked G.C. E. Ordinary Level qualification. The Census of Public and Semi-Government Sector Employees conducted in November 2016 revealed that out of the 1.1 million employees in the public sector, excluding the security forces, only 17.6% were graduates. Experts say politically motivated appointments has led to this situation. Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Dr. W.A. Wijewardena stated that it shows the quality of public sector employees has deteriorated over these years mainly because of the recruitment of public servants based on political affiliations. While none of these employees can be fired from public service, Dr. Wijeywardene suggests that the Government should initiate a continuous learning program to enable them to deliver a better public service. Out of the 290,378 graduates who participated in this census 54% held degrees in Arts, 14.3% were management and commerce graduates while only 10.4% were science graduates. Dr. W.A. Wijewardena believes that the abundance in arts graduates in the public sector is primarily because the Government has become the employer of last resort to provide employment to graduates. He noted that this demonstrates a clear deficiency in Sri Lanka's University System.