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About 90% of SL youth under 25 want to go overseas to live comfortably

Published

2 years ago

2024/04/19

By Rathindra Kuruwita

More than 90 percent of youth under 25 believe that they have to go overseas if they are to live comfortably, lecturer at the University of Vocational Technology, H.A Gayan Madushanka, who is one of the authors of a recent study titled ‘Better living, better opportunities: Exploring how economic distress influence the intention to migrate’ says.

The study had been carried out between June and August 2023, he said. 33 percent of respondents have completed an advanced-level coursework, nine percent have completed diploma-level coursework, 59 percent have completed degrees, and one percent have completed doctoral degrees, according to Madushanka.

“About 92 percent feel like this. 66 percent of people we interviewed were in the process of leaving the country. These are people who have at least started learning Korean, seeking employment in South Korea. We also found that 58 percent of the respondents were facing stress because of the economic crisis. There is a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of people don’t think they can achieve their objectives if they stay here,” he said.

Madushanka said they had interviewed a large number of university students and that most students had to stay in Colombo or move to the city to find jobs that match their education level. Many were not certain that it would not be possible with the starting salaries of most of the jobs available, he said.

“On the other hand, young people who have left the country seem to be enjoying a better quality of life. Most undergraduates feel that they, too, need to leave. A lot of undergraduates, who do not come from well off families, are struggling financially,” he said.

Almost all respondents believed that living in Sri Lanka would not provide them with the necessary skills to compete on a global scale.

“Sixty six percent of respondents stated that they would leave the country as soon as a job opportunity presented itself to ensure a better future and to be rewarded for their efforts. Due to uncertainty, nearly one third of respondents said they had lost focus on studies and daily activities. They reported increased anxiety, a lack of uninterrupted sleep, and peer pressure,” he said.

Madushanka said that the beginning of the economic crisis could be traced to Easter Sunday attacks and continued through the COVID lockdowns and the economic crisis. Even young people from well off families started feeling that the country was not a stable place for them to live.

“Even if people have money, their purchasing power has drastically decreased and the services as well. Companies froze recruitment and there were salary cuts. Inflation also rose. Young people feel uncertain about the future,” he said.

Madushanka said they had also come up with a number of policy recommendations that minimise the exodus of youth from the country.

Among the recommendations they had come up with are: make it mandatory for and public sector organisations to recruit a minimum of 25% of their workforce annually from the youth demographic; implement state backed initiatives to support young entrepreneurs and encourage self-reliance by nurturing startup enterprises; develop comprehensive mental health guidelines for employees and university students by establishing anonymous helplines within universities for open communication, ensuring widespread access to these services; mandate universities and workplaces to employ a minimum of one mental health specialist, fostering an environment where students and employees can openly discuss and seek assistance for their mental health concerns; implement participatory research practices at the district level to assess diverse community needs comprehensively and create sustainable mechanisms for advancing youth-driven initiatives and foster cross-border collaborations within state universities to provide students exposure to international academic frameworks, equipping them with the skills required to meet global demands effectively.

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Merchant Shipping Secretariat probes bribery scandal

Published

8 hours ago

2026/07/20

Thilina Walpola

Cement carrier Sensho

… bribe giver departs Colombo port

The Merchant Shipping Secretariat (MSS) is investigating a complaint received from the Captain of an Indonesian flagged vessel Sensho that he had to pay an official USD 5,000 bribe to facilitate what our sources called port state control inspection.

Sources said that the cement carrier arrived at the Colombo Port, on Friday, and departed after having passed the rigorous inspection. Responding to queries, sources said that after paying the bribe, the vessel’s Captain has lodged complaints with MSS and the Commission to Investigate Allegation of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).

In spite of the government’s high profile anti-corruption drive there seemed to be fresh cases, sources said, adding that MSS had received a comprehensive complaint. The vessel had departed Colombo for Jeddah, sources said.

“The issue at hand is whether there have been unreported cases of MSS personnel receiving bribes,” sources said, acknowledging that the Captain, instead of immediately bringing the demand for USD 5,000 bribe to the MSS, had paid it and departed Colombo. (SF)

News

Theft of USD 2.5 mn: Dinana Dakuna claims COPF trying to protect mastermind

Published

8 hours ago

2026/07/20

Thilina Walpola

An opposition political group, styled as Dinana Dakuna, has accused the Committee of Public Finance (COPF) of protecting the masterminds behind the USD 2.5 mn theft from the Treasury.

Commenting on the recent COPF report on the theft, the group has alleged that the all-party parliamentary grouping made an attempt to shift the blame to the Central Bank as part of a cover-up. It has described the COPF report as a deliberate attempt to suppress the truth.

The group said that the COPF conveniently asserted that the theft took place due to the inexperience of officers concerned, thereby diverting the attention from those who perpetrated it.

An alleged attempt to portray the collapse of the administrative set-up that led to the USD 2.5 mn theft as a human resource problem, has also been questioned by Dinana Dakuna.

News

COPF chief slams security sticker scam

Published

8 hours ago

2026/07/20

Thilina Walpola

Harsha

The country was losing so much revenue due to the controversial liquor bottle security sticker scam that if tangible measures were taken to stop the fraud, they could fund about eight projects on the scale of the Suwaseriya ambulance service, Chairman of the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) and Colombo District MP Dr. Harsha de Silva said on Saturday.

Addressing the media in Colombo, Dr. de Silva described the security sticker, introduced for alcoholic beverages, as a “major scam” and called on the government to act responsibly when the current tender is renewed in 2027.

The former State Minister said the security sticker system had originally been introduced with the legitimate objective of improving tax compliance and preventing excise duty evasion in the liquor industry. However, he alleged that the manner in which the programme is currently being implemented was resulting in significant losses to the State.

According to Dr. de Silva, the government pays an Indian company US$8 for the digital printing of every 1,000 security stickers, although the actual cost of printing the same quantity is only about 12 US cents.

“The money being lost through this scheme is sufficient to finance around eight Suwaseriya-type projects,” he said, highlighting, what he described as, the excessive cost burden borne by the State.

Dr. de Silva noted that the high taxes imposed on alcoholic beverages had created incentives for manufacturers, distributors and liquor outlet owners to evade taxes, making a security sticker mechanism a necessary regulatory tool.

He said the proposal to introduce security stickers was first put forward during the Yahapalana administration in 2016.

The tender process commenced in 2017, was concluded in 2018 and the system was eventually implemented in 2023. The COPF Chairman said his Committee had recently undertaken an extensive review of excise revenue and the operation of the security sticker programme.

During the inquiry, it emerged that the Excise Department still lacked a computerised system capable of recording and managing data, related to the stickers, despite their importance to government revenue collection.

Dr. de Silva further said that Excise Department officials, who appeared before the Committee on Public Finance, had maintained that no fraud was taking place in relation to the sticker programme.

However, he expressed concern over the subsequent seizure of a stock of security stickers, in Malabe, only days after those assurances had been given.

He questioned whether stickers recovered during raids were genuine labels, legally obtained from the authorised supplier, or counterfeit versions, printed illegally, arguing that either possibility pointed to serious shortcomings in a system intended to guarantee security and traceability.

Dr. de Silva also referred to media reports concerning the company awarded the security sticker tender and allegations of fraudulent activities linked to the firm in several other countries.

He urged authorities to ensure greater transparency and accountability in the management of the programme and to carefully scrutinise the tender process when it comes up for renewal next year.