The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya - Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, thank you for this opportunity. This is in response to the Question raised by the Hon. Ravi Karunanayake under Standing Order No. 27(2) on 22 August, 2025.

¶ 02 1. Details of public university graduates who have left the country within one year of graduation are not available.

¶ 03 2. There is no restriction imposed on graduates who passed out from State universities with regard to serving in other countries. Therefore, calculation of the expenditure as a percentage of GDP is not required.

¶ 04 3. There are no contractual agreements between graduates and the Government in terms of their departing the country after graduation.

¶ 05 4. Taxes, as you know, are collected by the Government mainly from two sources, as direct taxes and indirect taxes. All taxes are contributed towards maintaining the free education system in the country and it is done with the intention of providing all students an equal opportunity to access quality education irrespective of their socio-economic background. There are no restrictions placed on those graduates about how they may use their knowledge, either in the country or outside the country.

¶ 06 5. The Government has not imposed any regulations or any kind of obligation on students who receive Mahapola Fund or free education about serving the country for a minimum period.

¶ 07 6. No such proposal has been introduced by the Government to recover money spent as expenses on an individual graduate, if they go abroad and find employment.

¶ 08 7. The Government has not taken any policy decision to recover money spent by the Government on free education of the students.

¶ 09 As the Hon. Member is aware, free education is seen as a right in this country. Simply, it is not a transaction between an individual student and the Government. The benefits of free education and what the student does are enjoyed by the society at large in many ways; it could even be through the remittances that are sent by those students to the country.

¶ 10 So, the Government’s policy is, we invest in education because it is a right of all citizens and the returns of that cannot simply be calculated based on an individual’s monetary return per se.

¶ 11 8. Not relevant since it has been answered in the previous parts of the Question.