Only 2 per cent for education in 2019 Budget: Dayasiri

UPFA MP Dayasiri Jayasekara said yesterday even though the government claimed to allocate six per cent of the Gross Domestic Production (GDP) to education, the amount allocated currently is less than two per cent.

He told Parliament that funds allocated to education had been decreasing annually with Rs.63,040 million in 2015; Rs.203,572 million in 2016 and Rs.105,000 million in 2019.

The MP said only Rs.65,000 million or 32 per cent from the allocated funds had been spent in 2016.

Participating in the committee stage debate of the budget, he said there were vacancies for 12,134 teachers in the Tamil medium and 12,178 in the Sinhala medium countrywide.

"There is a shortage of mathematics and science teachers because mathematics and science graduates are reluctant to enter teaching profession. Arts graduates have to teach even in the primary classes," he said.

The MP requested the subject minister to look into the shortage of desks and chairs in schools and added that there was a shortage of about 15,000 desks and benches in primary classes in the North Western Province and about 400,000 desks and chairs throughout the country. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)