Nihal Ranasinghe graduated in Bsc.(Business Administration) Special from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura and obtained a Master Degree in Public Administration with a Merit pass (MPA) from the Post Graduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayawardenapura.
Mr. Ranasinghe is a Special Grade officer of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service who counts 32 years of experience in various capacities and positions. First, he was appointed as a Sri Lanka Administration Service Officer in 1991 and posted to Kurunegala District as an Assistant Divisional Secretary in Kurunegala Division. Thereafter, served in the District level and provincial level in various positions such as Assistant District Secretary, Assistant Secretary to the Chief Ministry of North western Province, Provincial Director of Industries during the first ten years of his career from 1991 to 2001.
He then moved to Colombo and joined the Department of Immigration and Emigration. He started his work there as the Assistant Controller and served in different positions. He assumed his duties as the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration in 2014. During his tenure in the Public service, he has participated in several international workshops, seminars, and symposia in the fields of Immigration Management and related Systems Development Programmes. He joined the Ministry of Education as the Secretary of Education after he served as Director General of SLIDA from 2019 November to 2020 August. Then he joined the State Ministry of Fertilizer as the Secretary in 2020 August and served until 2022 May.
At present, he serves as the Secretary of the Ministry of Education for the Government of Sri Lanka.