Brain drain:
VICIOUS cycle
Sajitha Prematunge
Educated professionals who migrate in search of greener pastures
derive all the benefits that free education entails, only to put to use
their expertise for the betterment of a foreign economy.
Over a year after ending a three decade old war one would think that
the problem of brain drain will be brought under control, if not
completely stopped. But a study conducted by the Centre for Social
Policy Analysis and Research finds that 50 percent of the Sri Lankan
youth prefers to seek foreign employment. Now that Sri Lanka has managed
to put the war behind it, brain drain may be the only thing that stands
between its development.
Brain drain is a huge loss to a developing country’s economy.
Academics and educated professionals are essential for a country’s
development because they are required to head various institutions.
Theoretically they should be in the forefront of devising economic
restructuring.
Causes
Senior Professor of Sociology, University of Colombo, S.T. Hettige
sees brain drain as owing to economic as well as attitudinal issues. He
observes that lack of industrial diversification as a major reason for
brain drain.
He suggested that it should be diversified to provide job
opportunities for highly qualified individuals such as managers, IT
experts and technicians. Lack of such job opportunities results in
educated youth migrating to industrialized countries.
Worse yet we are now losing these people to Asian countries such as
Malaysia, Singapore and India.
The problem is not just that Sri Lanka lack these facilities but that
industrialized countries welcome competent professionals. It is an
attitudinal issue because most would prefer to migrate to industrialized
countries. With their facilities and high salaries it is a bargain hard
to pass. “US literally mops up people from all over the world into their
cadre of scientific professionals,” said Prof. Hettige.
Brain
drain is a vicious cycle. As the few people who are competent enough to
train the young generation migrate more and more of Sri Lankan youth go
abroad in search of better guidance.
Nanotechnology Director, Professor in Geology and Physics, Lock Haven
University, Pennsylvania, Prof. Anura Goonewardene migrated to the US,
in 1998, for unpreventable personal reasons, said that most graduates
leave the country in search of jobs. He pointed out that Sri Lanka has a
limited number of jobs in the field of science and technology to offer.
This is a major reason for brain drain. Moreover only a limited
number of students are accommodated into the science field at university
level.
However Prof. Goonewardene also observes that some percentage of
qualified professionals is now flowing back into the country at the end
of a three decade old war. He admitted that such highly qualified
individuals may feel a sense of isolation upon return as no
opportunities may exist for them to put their expertise to use.
He emphasized the importance of developing Sri Lanka’s resource base
to counter this situation. “The universities as well as the commercial
sector has to share the existing limited resource base. Consequently
opportunities for research on university level is much less than in
developed countries,” said Prof. Goonewardene. According to consultant
Engineer and Economist Sam Samarasinghe only 0.31 percent of the GDP is
allocated for science and technology, way below recommended.
He explained that he sees no flaws in the Sri Lankan education
system, that could cause brain drain. ‘Education’ should make use of
available resources.
The US has ample resources, consequently can afford the flexibility
it offers.
“The US education system allows students to specialize much earlier.
Considering the resources available the education system is not directly
responsible for brain drain.”
Brain drain is a huge economic loss to a developing country. “At the
current rate of brain drain the future of Sri Lankan economy is bleak,”
warned Samarasinghe. The main reason for brain drain, in his opinion, is
the lack of proper development plan. The intelligentsia saw no potential
for development for themselves in Sri Lanka, so they opted to migrate.
Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake explained that as a
result of over a 30-year-old war a majority of Tamils were forced to
leave the country. But explained that salary anomalies in the education
sector has to do more with brain drain than the war.
Recommendations
Prof. Hettige recommended that the economy be restructured and
industry diversified. For example agricultural sector should move on to
producing value added goods using agricultural raw material. “We still
import diary products. There is a lot of scope for diary products in Sri
Lanka.”
He claimed that highly qualified people can not be employed unless
industry is diversified. Entrepreneurs who lack the capital and
technical know-how should explore the possibilities of joint ventures
with foreign companies.”
Minister S. B. Dissanayake said that intellectuals are essential for
Sri Lanka at a time when it is attempting to make an economic comeback.
And claimed that the government hopes to reverse brain drain by offering
them high salaries, special consideration for enrolling their children
to school, offering special housing loans and vehicle permits.
“Science and technology should be the mainstay of a developing
country,” said Samarasinghe. He recommended that at least 1 percent of
GDP should be allocated for the field of science and technology and
educated, capable, efficient and dedicated individuals placed in key
public sector positions. Prof. Hettige recommended that the development
process be guided by qualified individuals.
Minister S. B. Dissanayake also agrees that more investments should
be made to promote university level research. He said that the
government hopes to resolve salary issues by introducing salary reforms,
while also allocating more money for research.
When questioned about the allegation that Sri Lankan education is not
job oriented, Prof. Goonawardene said that the job oriented system has
its own flaws. “For example in engineering academics plan and design and
technicians, with lesser qualifications run the system, but both parties
are equally necessary.” He explained that India and China had to face
the same problem some 30 years ago. “But this didn’t stop them from
producing graduates, because some percentage always returned.”
He reiterated the importance of overcoming the bottleneck of entrance
into the field of science in Sri Lankan universities. This could be
rectified by allowing more students to follow the science stream at
university level. But suggested that science based industry also has to
develop in parallel to provide jobs for the graduates. He also suggested
that interdisciplinary fields like nanotechnology can be developed as a
means of creating more job opportunities. |