Aug 11, Colombo: The president of the Federation of University Teachers' Associations (FUTA) of Sri Lanka, Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri praised the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa's decision to establish a presidential Commission to look into the problems of the higher education sector.

However, he said the objectives and the responsibilities of the commission were yet to be defined.

Meanwhile, a discussion was held yesterday between the Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa and the FUTA.

Dr. Dewasiri said the discussion led to several positive responses from the government regarding their strike. However, they were not sufficient to end the strike, he added.

He said an agreement could not be reached regarding the salaries of the university lecturers during this discussion either.

The Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga was also present at these discussions.

FUTA earlier held discussions with the Presidential Secretary to end the strike but failed to come to an agreement on the demands.

The academics, who were striking duties since July 04, demand the government to allocate 6 percent of the country's GDP for education, grant independence of universities from political interferences and an increase in salaries for university teachers.

The FUTA president reiterated that the union would continue the strike until their demands are met.