In the past few months long queues have been reported in front of the Passport Office and the Department of Immigration and Emigration of Sri Lanka. It was overcrowded to the point that in the month of October they had to temporarily suspend the online booking facilities due to all appointments being fully booked. With many people leaving the country not only for education purposes, but for other purposes as well, it is highly likely that it could lead to a possible brain drain in Sri Lanka in the near future.
What is brain drain? It can be defined as a phenomenon where a large number of educated and highly skilled people leave their own country, to live and work in another country where the salaries and living conditions are far better. Migration can be considered as a feature of the mankind since the dawn of civilization. This helped the development of the society through the transfer of knowledge, capital and labour force. However, unlike those days, the incidence of educated and trained professionals and youth leaving their developing countries for better opportunities in developed countries, has become a huge concern all over the world.
Brain drain is not a new problem for Sri Lanka. Even though it is not very widely discussed, its evidence can be witnessed throughout the history. This could be first observed in the time of the colonial period, where many middle-class youths left the country for better opportunities and education in Great Britain. Thereafter, this can be seen in 1960s where most of the burgher community left the country, in 1970s where many citizens sought better economic conditions in other countries due to economic policies adopted by the government of the time, and in 1980s where most of the Tamil community left the country due to the violent conflicts. Furthermore, one of the worst brain drains of Sri Lanka occurred due to the 30-year civil war that hindered the development of the country where many Sri Lankans resort to migration as a mean to acquire better living standards and to escape prevailing war.
It has been assessed that over 5000 professionals who provide their services in both state and the private sectors leave the shores of Sri Lanka annually. This is a staggering amount. Moreover, there is a large number of Sri Lankan students who seek education in other countries. Most of them tend to settle down and pursue their careers in respective countries while only a small number of students come back to Sri Lanka to provide their services to the motherland.
Educated youth and skilled professionals are the pillars of a country’s development. Absence of this emerging workforce could completely stunt the wealth creation of the country. Even though the motherland spend money on educating the youth, on most occasions developed countries manage to reap the benefits from their talents. Due to this imbalance of the skilled workforce in the developed and developing countries, poor countries like Sri Lanka tend to stay underdeveloped while developed countries continue to develop.
When brain drain is prevalent in a developing country like Sri Lanka, it tends to face several problems. The loss of skilled and innovative people would cause the motherland to lose their creative ideas and the capacity to adopt advanced technologies, for productivity and governance of the country. Also, losing these people makes the function of critical social services of the state such as, health care, and education more difficult. Furthermore, a brain drain may also cause fiscal losses (e.g., reduction of tax income), reduced economic growth, higher costs of public goods, and cause the loss of investment in human capital formation.
There are many factors that cause brain drain in a country. Among them, lack of career opportunities, low wages, political instability, religious tension, and lack of autonomy in academic freedom take priority. Thus, the blame is not completely on these academics or professionals who migrate to other countries. The country itself, the policy makers, and also corporates have a responsibility to provide relevant career opportunities in their chosen fields with suitable salaries for them to pursue careers in various industries. At least there should be steps taken to initiate such procedures to prevent a further brain drain or human capital flight in the future.
To reduce the human capital flow out of the country, first and foremost Sri Lanka needs to address the political instability and economic commotion within the country and strengthen those bodies, instead of creating policies to discourage emigration. Sri Lanka also needs to undertake reforms such as private sector growth investment and job creation to create a conducive environment for eligible labour to remain in the country. Also, research opportunities provided in one’s own country may help to keep intellectuals within the country. Furthermore, there is a vital need to address inequality among marginalized groups such as women and assist them to secure suitable careers for their qualifications. Moreover, improving food security, education, healthcare, infrastructure, and other facilities could motivate people to stay in the motherland instead of resorting to migration.
All of this cannot be achieved within a day or two. But for Sri Lanka to move forward in national development, they need the help of high-quality workers and intellectuals. The country’s growth and economic stability largely depend on these skilled individuals. Even though this problem seems to be irrelevant or invisible to majority, it has become an increased threat to country’s development. Therefore, the day Sri Lanka starts to address this issue of brain drain more seriously with practical solutions, it will take Sri Lanka to newer heights.
By Anuradhika Uduwana – LLB 2nd year
Edited By: Rtr. Dulithi Jagoda
Design By: Rtr. Mohamed Umair Jama
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