UGC Chair invites university non-academic staff to negotiation table

Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Prof. Sampath Amaratunga made a request of the university non-academic staff to come to the negotiation table since the Ministry of Higher Education and related government agencies have jointly taken all necessary measures to solve the salary disparities of the university non-academic staff.

Also, Prof. Amaratunga asked the striking university non-academic staff to consider the future of the university students and act responsibly.

He made these remarks while addressing media yesterday at the UGC on the measures taken to curtail the effects of the trade union action of the university non-academic staff.

Prof. Amaratunga also said that since the measures to solve this problem are in the final stage, he is sure that it will be solved very soon. However, he emphasized that there is no truth in the rumours circulating that university dormitories, office rooms and lecture halls have been closed due to the strike of university non-academic staff.

Also, in the discussion he had with all the university vice-chancellors yesterday (14), all of them have said that despite the strike action, it is possible to hold university lectures online.

“During the discussion I had with all the university vice-chancellors, all of them stressed that the lectures will be carried out online soon, in spite of the strike action” he added.

He stated that the students who have faced G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination of 2022 (2023) are being recruited to the universities at present. Also, the results of the students who faced Advanced Level Examination of 2023 (2024) are going to be released this month. After that, cut-off marks relating to them are released and these students are also expected to be admitted to universities before the end of this year. Be that as it may, by the end of this year, two undergraduate groups of first year students will be in universities. The professor pointed out that this is a very problematic situation for higher education since there are two parallel undergraduate groups of first year in universities.

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