2026-01-16
News Categories : Committee News
The Sectoral Oversight Committee on Education, Manpower and Human Capital took into discussion the Universities (Amendment) Bill and the matters pertaining to the recruitments of the Sri Lanka Principal Service.
In consideration of the Universities (Amendment) Bill, it was discussed that the Bill intends to set provisions enabling the Faculty Board to elect a Dean from among the Senior Professors, Professors, Associate Professors and Senior Lecturers (Grade I) of the Faculty, enable the Council to remove a Dean from his office prior to the completion of his term of office, and introduce limitations with respect to the term of office of a Dean of a Faculty.
This was taken into discussion when the Committee met recently (Jan. 06) at Parliament under the Chairmanship of Hon. Member of Parliament Hesha Withanage.
Moreover, it also amends and specifies the procedure to be followed by the Council when appointing a Head of a Department of Study, enables the Council to remove the Head of a Department of Study from his office prior to the completion of his term of office, and introduces limitations applicable with respect to the terms of office of the same. Following in depth discussions and considerations, the Committee approved the said Bill.
The Committee also discussed the matters pertaining to the recruitments of the Sri Lanka Principal Service at length. It was stated that Principals are recruited for the Sri Lanka Principal Service through a competitive exam held for teachers in service, which was held in 2019 for 1918 vacancies. It was then stated that 155 were again recruited in 2022 from the same pool who sat for the 2019 exam. It was then stated that another batch of 4672 were recruited in 2023 by a court determination. Moreover, it was observed that a few remaining from the 2019 batch are yet to be absorbed into the Principal Service.
The Committee pointed out that issues have arisen because recruitments have been made consistently from the group that sat for the examination in 2019 for various reasons. The Committee questioned why exams were not held yearly and the status of holding a fresh exam.
Hon. Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa, and Hon. Members of the Committee (Dr.) V.S. Radhakrishnan, (Ms.) Krishnan Kalaichelvi, Sugath Wasantha de Silva, (Mrs.) Nilusha Lakmali Gamage, Attorney at Law, Sujeewa Dissanayake, Chanaka Madugoda, Sanjeewa Ranasingha, Thurairasa Ravikaran, Sunil Rajapaksha were present at this committee meeting held.
2026-06-19
The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Environment focused its attention on the issue of water pollution in the Kelani River when it met in Parliament recently (10th June) under the chairmanship of the Hon. Minister of Environment, Dr. Dammika Patabendi.During the meeting, the Committee was briefed on the progress of discussions being held with companies that have expressed willingness to invest in a project aimed at cleaning the waters of the Kelani River.The Committee also discussed a number of proposals and other issues raised by Hon. Members of Parliament.The meeting was attended by Hon. Members of Parliament and officials.
2026-06-18
A meeting of the Women Parliamentarians Caucus was held in Parliament recently to discuss the importance of incorporating Gender-Responsive Budgeting into Sri Lanka’s national budget formulation process and to examine the challenges associated with its implementation.The meeting was chaired by the Chairperson of the Caucus and Hon. Minister of Women and Child Affairs, Saroja Savithri Paulraj. Hon. Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya also participated in the discussion.A key concern raised during the discussion was the lack of adequate data and indicators to accurately assess and measure women’s economic contributions within the budgetary process. Drawing on examples of approaches adopted in India and other countries, members of the Caucus underscored the need to identify and address existing systemic and technical gaps in Sri Lanka’s budgeting framework.The Caucus also emphasized the importance of disaggregating data by gender in project reporting and strengthening digital data management systems to support such efforts. It was further noted that identifying relevant gender-related considerations at the initial stages of project design and implementation at the ministerial level would facilitate more effective project analysis, monitoring, and evaluation of outcomes.The need to move away from existing traditional and time-consuming methods towards formal online systems and data-driven analytical tools was also emphasized.The current progress and challenges in integrating Gender-Responsive Budgeting into Sri Lanka’s public financial policy were discussed in detail during the meeting.It was also emphasized that such budgeting should not be limited to nominal percentages in documents, but that the need to establish a formal framework and data system to ensure it has a real and practical impact was also highlighted.The Hon.Deputy Chairperson of Committees Hemalee Weerasekera, Hon. Deputy Minister Dr. Kaushalya Ariyarathne, Co-Vice Chairpersons of the Caucus, Hon. Members of Parliament Chamindrani Kiriella, Attorney at Law and Samanmalee Gunasinghe, Hon. Members of Parliament Thushari Jayasinghe, Attorney at Law, Krishnan Kaleichelvi, Sagarika Athauda ,Attorney at Law, Nilanthi Kottahachchi, Attorney at Law, Ambika Samivel and Lakmali Hemachandra, Attorney at Law, along with a group of officials from the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, also participated in the event.
2026-06-17
The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government met recently (Jun. 12) at Parliament under the chairmanship of the Hon. Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Prof. A.H.M.H. Abayarathna.During the meeting, Members of Parliament discussed a range of issues and proposals relating to their respective electorates, as well as several other matters of public importance.Hon. Members of Parliament and officials were present at the meeting.
2026-06-17
The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs met recently (Jun. 09) at Parliament under the chairmanship of the Hon. Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senevi.During the meeting, Members of Parliament discussed a number of proposals and issues, including reviewing the progress of discussions initiated with the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education and the Department of Examinations regarding the formulation of regulations to prevent the conduct of private tuition classes on Sunday mornings, thereby facilitating the holding of Dhamma School classes on Sundays.The meeting was attended by Hon. Deputy Ministers, Hon. Members of Parliament and officials.
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