This year’s budget is a fraudulent budget that has deceived the people in three ways, says the University Alumni Action Center.
The Center said this at a media briefing held today (28) under the patronage of its Chairman Dasun Udara Wijesekera, Vice President Dr Fazil Yakub, Secretary Sabaragamuwa University, Manoj Ranasinghe, Treasurer Jayewardenepura University, Kanishka Niroshan, Members of the National University Board of Directors Jaffna University- Engineer Ravindu Lankapriya, Jayewardenepura University Dr Vilasi Mandira, HND – Janitha Rajasinghe and Moratuwa University – Engineering Arosha Hansitha.
The media briefing was held to comment on how the present government has allocated funds for education and higher education from the budget presented for the following year. It was also explained that the University Alumni Action Center submitted a budget proposal for the year 2022 to the Ministry of Finance on October 09, and the contents of the proposal were explained.
Speaking at the media briefing on the three types of budget frauds, Dasun Udara Wijesekera, President of the University Alumni Action Center, said that the government’s request to the public to present budget proposals, the content of the budget and the picture intended to be shown to the country through the budget were fraudulent.
Speaking further, Chairman Dasun Udara Wijesekera said, “The government announced that 07% would be allocated for education this time, but according to the government’s own estimates, the financial allocation has been slashed compared to last year. Only Rs. 169 billion has been allocated for education this year. But the actual allocation to the Cabinet Ministry of Education and other state ministries is less than Rs.164 billion,
Expected government spending for 2022 is 3,912 billion rupees, excluding domestic and foreign loan interest instalments. Accordingly, the amount allocated for education is less than 4.19% as a percentage of government expenditure, and expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP is less than 0.89%.
In addition, there has been a sharp reduction in the amount allocated last year for university infrastructure development and rural school development. If education is seen as an investment in a country, the rulers will not cut money like this.
Given all this, it is clear that this budget is also a massive fraudulent budget.
As the Active Center for University Alumni, we call on the people, especially those who have been educated at the university and are currently engaged in various fields, to take an active part in finding a collective solution to the current crisis.”
Dr Fazil Yakub, Vice President, presented at the press conference in Tamil.
