Act against University ‘Bond Scams’

September 25, 2018, 9:44 pm 

By Liyanage Amarakeerthi Professor, University of Peradeniya

The Minster of Higher Education is after some eight hundred million of rupees. In the country of ours, which has become a land of grand corruption, the words "minister" and "millions" might look boringly familiar. And, of course, even the luxury cars of ministers that look like wheeled-castles, routinely demonstrate that ‘ministers’ and ‘millions’ are inseparable. This time, however, the minister is going after a different kind of millions. Our colleagues at universities owe those millions to the universities. Those academics have gone to foreign countries intending or pretending to pursue postgraduate education, but never returned as they promised. They are legally bound to return in person or return the money they owe. These ‘bond violators’ in all universities, reportedly owe the country nearly nine hundred million. Of late, the Minister was quite vocal about those millions, while we were busy talking about the millions and billions ministers and former ministers owe the country.

While I disagree with the minister on many things related to education, I could not agree more with him on this ‘bond scam.’ Those millions must be recovered. I also know of several of those violators. There could be many justifiable reasons for them to stay back in those richer and better countries. For example, some of those academics did not even finish their postgraduate training. Instead, they have established small companies that provide janitorial services. Perhaps, there is a message right there for the minister. For them, that janitorial work there is far better than the professorial work here! But I do not think so. Being a qualified and committed university don here is still one of the best professions in the country. Therefore, this ‘bond scam’ concerns me greatly. For one thing, I have signed a few such bonds. Some have returned and others haven’t. The minister must go after them and recover the money.

In addition to the money, there is something else that needs ministerial attention. Legal action against those bond violators can take years. Universities are also not particularly quick in attending to those matters. Thus, academics remaining in the department of studies to which those violators belong, have to work beyond regular norms covering the duties of people who would never return. For covering someone else’s duties some able scholars have put aside their own research, publication and creative work. Thus, the committed academics are punished for their commitment! Moreover, even after the legal processes are over, universities take even more years to fill the position vacated by those violators. In some cases, the relevant departments might not even be able to retain those cadre positions. All these aspects need to be considered when calculating what the violators owe us, the system.

There is an even more significant aspect about this. There are some qualified academics in the Sri Lankan universities, who have joined the system with doctoral training earned with the support of scholarships they have personally won. These people, though a few in number, are an extremely unlucky group. They will never have ‘study leave’ and other benefits given to those who join the system with just a first degree. For example, when I won a Fulbright Fellowship to study for my Masters’ degree, and a series of other scholarships from the University of Wisconsin for pursuing my PhD, I did not have a university appointment in Sri Lanka. When I joined the Sri Lankan university with the doctoral training, I knew that I would not receive any paid ‘study leave’ for further studies. Many have joined the system with quality doctoral training obtained with no support from the Sri Lankan university system. Some of them would have earned much higher salaries and other benefits had they stayed back in the countries such as the US.

Here, I have a suggestion for the Minister: we have often heard our political leaders requesting the educated Sri Lankans in foreign countries to return home to make it the Knowledge Hub of Asia. So Mr. Minister, establish a reward system where those who have already earned PhDs, and other academic credentials, are placed above those who are still to begin thinking about their postgraduate work. What happens currently is nearly insane. In some cases, those who already had doctoral training are paid less than those have not even begun theirs, because their service period is longer! And those with longer service get other benefits such as university housing and the like. Their hard work of many years must be recognised, but not over those who have earned academic credentials without any of support of the university. When recovered, that ‘bond money’ can be used to create a system to reward those who are willing to join our universities with PhD earned their own.

Political national service

Each government offers various political appointments to academics loyal to it. Those appointments are called "national service"- a euphemism for political appointments. But, more often than not, this is a way of creating opportunities for cronies of politicians to make money. Some of those appointees have very little knowledge, skills and creativity to ‘serve the nation.’ What they usually do is serving the party. The present government also has called up many academics for ‘national service.’ The previous regime was quite notorious in this respect.

Here again, I have a suggestion for the minister: limit the duration of ‘national service.’ It should not be more than two years. Right now, any university lecturer if he or she has the government’s blessing, can be on ‘national service’ until the government is defeated. So, theoretically, one can be in ‘national service’ for decades. Until that person returns someday, the university has to keep his position intact. And those years of ‘national service’ are counted as his or her ‘service’ at the university, and relevant benefits are claimed accordingly!

With such practices, we will not be able to create the ‘knowledge hub.’ So, Mister Minister, go for those millions. Of course, it is a nothing for a minster, but a lot for us.