Special committee to study HNDA students' demands

by Ranil Wijayapala

The Ministry of University Education and Highways will appoint a committee headed by the Vice Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) to study the demands of students of the Higher National Diploma in Accountancy (HNDA), following Thursday's (29) protest opposite the UGC that saw a violent police response.

Secretary to the Ministry, D.C. Dissanayake told the Sunday Observer, the committee which will address urgent issues on a short-term basis, will comprise officials of the Ministries of University Education and Highways and Public Administration.

Director General Establishment and Director General Combined Services will also be included in the committee.

The main demand of the Students' Collective is to protect the HNDA, giving it the status of a university degree, cancelling the 10/2014 circular of October 2014 issued by the Ministry of Public Administration.

The HNDA was considered an equivalent qualification to the Bachelor of Commerce degree through a Public Administration Ministry circular 46/1990, when recruiting to the public sector. "The Public Administration Ministry issued this circular in 1990 when there was a shortage of graduates having a BA in Commerce. The circular was cancelled by the Public Administration Ministry in 2014 when the graduate cadre was full," Dissanayake said. Following the circular, respective institutions have been requested to decide on the qualifications when recruiting graduates to institutions.c However, the Ministry of University Education has made a request from the Ministry of Public Administration to consider recruiting students enrolled to the HNDA course until 2014, taking into consideration their qualification as an alternate qualification to the Bachelor of Commerce degree.

"The Ministry is in discussion with the UGC to formulate a higher education qualification framework as a medium-term solution," the Secretary said.