|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Wednesday, 2 March 2005 |
 |
|
 |
Features | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Priority for satisfying Lanka's skilled worker requirements by Manjula Fernando The Skills Development, Vocational and Technical Education Deputy Minister Duminda Dissanayake, who is among the youngest elected Members of Parliament spoke to the 'Daily News' on the challenges the local vocational training and technical education sectors face in their efforts to develop and break away from cultural misconceptions.
Son of senior SLFP member, present Chief Minister NCP Berty Premalal Dissanayake, the Deputy Minister was first elected to Parliament in the 2000 general election at the young age of 21, bagging the highest preferential vote for the party in the Anuradhapura district. He was re-elected in 2001 and 2004. He is also the Vice Chairman of the SLFP youth corps. Like his predecessors, S. D. Bandaranayake, Anura Bandaranaike, Maithripala Sirisena, Tilina Bandara Tennakoon and Nalanda Ellawala, all of whom began their political careers as youth members, the youth corps was his stepping stone to the political world. The Deputy Minister shouldered the enormous responsibility of organising the forthcoming SLFP Youth Convention. This mega event of the party is to be presided over by the President at the NYSC auditorium in Maharagama on March 2. Aspiring to create a skilled labour culture to tap well paid jobs for the Sri Lankan youth the Deputy Minister said his objective is to set up a vocational training village with residential facilities, bringing in all the training institutions to one location. Once realised, this will cut short the training span while giving students maximum exposure to the highest standards of training, he said. Being a youth myself, I am glad to be of service to the members of my own age under the able guidance and encouragement of my senior Minister Piyasena Dissanayake, he remarked. "The biggest hurdle we have to face in the efforts to improve this sector is the social attitude. Unlike in the Western world, we look down on blue collar jobs which includes carpenters, masons, electricians, etc. despite the fact these jobs are in high demand and ensure better pay than most of what you call 'average' desk jobs. There is less interest by youth towards these fields because of this low acceptance, the Deputy Minister said. But technical education is not at all about cement and sand it is an area in high demand in most other countries. Our training institutes cover subjects such as garments and textile, IT, engineering, media, beauty culture, printing and other industries. He said the ministry under the guidance of Minister Piyasena Dissanayake is planning to increase their annual student intake to 60,000 by end of this year. "The aim is to introduce study courses that would satisfy popular demand and ensure jobs. Courses in photography, video filming, packaging will be among the newest additions to our study courses," he said. "We never knew or seriously felt that there was a shortage of properly trained construction workers until the December 26 tsunami. It flattened a vast area of our coastal belt from South through East to North. As a result the country was faced with the enormous task of erecting over 75,000 houses within a very short period." "Lack of skilled workers in the construction sector is going to be a big problem during the reconstruction phase," he said adding that this is a good eye opener for the authorities. The Ministry has undertaken to train 3,000 construction workers to meet the sudden demand created by tsunami reconstruction. The project got off the ground this month with 1,000 students from Narigama and another 1,000 is to be enrolled next month and 1,000 more in April. Their six months training will cover one month of in-house theory training and the next five months in the field in the tsunami reconstruction sites. Deputy Minister Dissanayake said their future technical and vocational education plan includes overall modification of their training methods to incorporate attire and conduct training for low key jobs to give a better personal impression. "Already we are making arrangements to issue special passes for students trained under all our institutions to give them the identity of a licensed workman. The pass would be recognised in any place of work. This will also help elevate their status" he said observing that although this type of work is becoming more and more remunerative, it is slow to gain popularity among youth. "This new strategy would help shed those old notions." The National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority is conducting a 'National Trade Test' for experienced and senior workmen who are without paper qualifications to apply for foreign jobs. "We want to ensure that all our passing out students find jobs immediately after the training if not before. This number is about 50 per cent at present. We are exploring all possibilities to increase this considerably in the near future," he said. The Skills Development Ministry is in the process of setting up their own foreign employment agency to canvass for jobs for their students who pass out annually. In addition a dialogue is also on with the Labour Ministry seeking their consent to include the students on the foreign employment priority list, the Deputy Minister disclosed. "Plans are under way to create a job bank, a computer data base with details of all students who pass out so that anyone wanting skilled labour for construction sites or any type of workplace can log in to the internet to hire workers instead of putting up scribbled boards announcing vacancies, the Deputy Minister said. The Cabinet of Ministers recently approved Rs.100 million to set up a Technical Education University for the first time in Sri Lanka. The university which will have a flexible laddering system with access for students possessing various levels of qualifications to go up to a technical degree is expected to be in great demand from students who drop out at the GCE Advanced Level. "There is only one place to get an external degree in technical education in the country at present, the Open University. Therefore, the new Technical University is expected to ease the congestion for higher studies in this field," he said. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
