SHORTCOMINGS IN EMPLOYMENT

Janaka Perera explores why Sri Lankan youth view migration as an opportunity

It was recently revealed that many young Sri Lankans view migration or international schooling as an opportunity to enhance their employment prospects. At least seven out of 10 youth said they would opt for a job in the West, the Middle East, Australia or East Asia if given the opportunity prior to the outbreak of COVID-19.

Sri Lanka has a longstanding diaspora tradition with many citizens living and working abroad as skilled or unskilled workers. Migration is viewed as the best way to improve one’s economic prospects.

In the colonial era, middle class youth usually sought greener pastures in England and British Malaya with travel at the time requiring no visas in certain parts of the British Empire.

In the post-independence years, unemployment increased primarily due to the failure of the education system, which has yet to fully meet the job market’s requirements and national objectives of an independent developing country. This is a system that has long been criticised as being too academic.

For decades, the country faced challenges in providing employment and satisfying youth aspirations. Many graduates sought and continue to seek government jobs despite the public sector’s inability to absorb all of them.  With one exception, there has not been a comparable technical university to produce a professionally oriented workforce.

After 1970, incorrect policies contributed to two insurgencies in the south and separatist violence in the north. Among the root causes that made the country suffer its worst migration – referred to as the ‘brain drain’ – was a decision made by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led United Front government.

The government denied the right of Sinhala and Tamil students to be educated in the language of their choice but only in their native tongues. However, children from other communities – such as Muslims, Malays and Burghers – could choose Sinhala, Tamil or English as their medium of education.

This approach deprived two generations of Sinhala and Tamil students in government schools from mastering the English language, compelling some middle class families to migrate to countries with English medium education.

Moreover, the tertiary educa-tion student population has been quite mobile because higher education in Sri Lanka lacks the capacity to address demand at the undergraduate level.

When foreign employment opportunities became available from about the 1980s, more qualified professionals began emigrating despite being educated in Sinhala.

Many of these emigrants were graduates of the Ceylon-German Technical Training Institute. At the time, there was demand for those who were technically qualified in Australia despite their limited proficiency in the English language.

After securing well-paying jobs, these people settled in those countries with their families. Presently, many others who have benefitted from Sri Lanka’s free education system work in foreign lands. Others who are less qualified but skilled – such as carpenters, bricklayers, masons, plumbers, truck drivers and so on – have found employment in the Middle East.

Before the 1970s, seeking employment abroad as domestics was unheard of.  But when the open economy replaced the closed economy in 1977, the country shifted from one extreme to the other.

Unable to make ends meet as a consequence of the rising cost of living, many young women were compelled to seek jobs as housemaids. In the Middle East, many ended up as virtual slaves lured by unscrupulous job agents.

Towards the late 1990s, many young men from across the island and all ethnic backgrounds identified Italy as a potential destination for legal and illegal labour migration. Thereafter, the focus turned to Australia, which is currently preventing illegal entry with the cooperation of the Sri Lankan authorities. Some of these jobseekers fell victim to human traffickers.

Although our skilled workers seek employment abroad in a bid to improve their incomes in relation to what they can earn here, the reality is that wages are often far lower than what Sri Lankans or natives of host countries earn.

English language proficiency became less important as a requirement with job offers from countries such as South Korea and Japan as a working knowledge of their national languages was essential.

Regarding the question of securing employment in Sri Lanka, some companies engage in the unfair practice of offering jobs to foreign workers instead of locals despite the latter group’s attempts to secure additional qualifications through numerous public and private training programmes.

In the MNC sector especially, foreigners in senior positions are often not only paid high salaries but are entitled to a host of luxuries including renting plush homes, club memberships and international school enrolments for their children. Locals in the same position would likely not be lucky enough to garner the same remuneration.