The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, an article in the Daily Mirror of 13 August 2025 states that more than 50 per cent of graduates in several standard disciplines from State universities leave the country and never return, as revealed by research by Professors Wasantha Athukorala and Lakshman Kumara of the University of Peradeniya.

¶ 02 Graduates educated with public funds—the root of Sri Lanka’s development—contribute to other countries. I present a draft bill today addressing the severe, though invisible, deficit from this huge public investment.

¶ 03 Every graduate benefits from the rupees of farmers, workers, teachers and small business owners. Yet a worrying trend is that graduates leave immediately without fulfilling even a minimum service obligation, causing waste of public funds and human/financial resources, undermining national development and the purpose of free education. Breach of obligation destroys public trust and deprives future generations of opportunity. When professionals depart without any service, it becomes a public investment for another country.

¶ 04 Should people fund those with no intent to serve? Or should those who violate obligations be made to repay the full cost, enforceable even via foreign missions?

¶ 05 Therefore, will the Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education explain the causes? My questions are:

¶ 06 1. Number of State university graduates who left Sri Lanka within one year of graduation without completing the bond period, during the last 10 years? 2. The education cost borne by the public for those who left without serving, as a percentage of GDP? 3. Does the Ministry have a mechanism to monitor bond breaches? How many were asked to repay; how much has been recovered; is this misuse of public funds? 4. Should taxpayers—from the Polonnaruwa paddy farmer to the Colombo SME owner to the Jaffna fisherman—fund a graduate who ends up serving Canada, Australia, France, the USA or the UK? 5. Shouldn’t a minimum period of national service be a national and moral obligation for all graduates funded by public and Mahapola funds before seeking overseas opportunities? 6. What reforms will the Government introduce to make bond repayment compulsory, enforceable and recoverable, including through foreign missions, when graduates do not fulfil obligations? 7. How will the Government ensure future students understand education is about honouring and giving back to the people who made it possible? 8. Will the Government publish an annual public report on graduate migration, bond compliance and cost recovery?

¶ 07 Thank you.