Lecturers at state universities will hold protests tomorrow (02) during the lunch break, demanding permanent solutions to long-standing issues affecting the university system.

The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) said lecturers from all state universities would participate in the protest.

FUTA Secretary Senior Lecturer Charudaththe Illangasinghe said further trade union action would be launched next week if the government failed to address their concerns.

He said the federation had raised issues affecting the state university system with the government soon after it assumed office and had submitted a set of proposals for their resolution.

However, the government had failed to implement the proposals or agreements reached during discussions, Illangasinghe alleged.

He said the federation had also held discussions with the President and Prime Minister and had submitted written communications outlining the problems facing state universities.

According to Illangasinghe, the continued failure to resolve the issues has contributed to a significant loss of academic staff from the state university system.

He said around 5,800 lecturers were employed in state universities in 2015, when approximately 25,000 students were admitted annually. The number of annual student admissions has since increased to around 45,000, while nearly 1,000 lecturers have left the university system.

Although vacancies have been opened for some academic positions, lecturers are not applying for many of the posts, he said.

“The collapse of the state university system would mean the collapse of the country’s future,” Illangasinghe said, warning that lecturers were prepared to take further trade union action if the government failed to respond to their concerns.

He said the federation had been discussing the issues with the authorities for nearly two years and had now decided to begin a continuous protest campaign.

The federation said the protests would continue and could be intensified until the government provides solutions to the problems affecting the state university sector.