Yovun Diriya, Tharuna Aruna launch today

COLOMBO: The Government's employment generation programmes Yovun Diriya and Tharuna Aruna III will be launched today in Colombo under President Mahinda Rajapaksa's patronage.

Yovun Diriya will initially target 50,000 youth with O/L and A/L qualifications who have been deprived of higher education facilities, Skills Development and Public Enterprises Reform Minister Sripathi Suriyaarachchi told the Daily News.

Tharuna Aruna III will initially involve 6,000 graduates who will receive skills training in the private sector, Minister Suriyaarachchi said.

Another batch of 12,000 graduates will be taken in over the next two years.

"The aim of Yovun Diriya is imparting job skills to youth aged 16-26 who have been denied higher education. They will be attuned to the needs of the job market at the end of the training period, during which they will be an allowance.

In the first six months, they will receive an all-round training including English and computing," the Minister said. Special attention will be paid to the recruits' discipline and physical fitness.

Afterwards, they will be directed to choose from among 200-300 training courses in a variety of fields at the institution of their choice. The Government will pay the course fee in addition to their allowance. They will be fully prepared to face the job market at the end of the training period.

The initial training will be conducted at 40 centres islandwide including the North-East. It is also significant that the majority f applicants are female.

"Under Tharuna Aruna, graduates will be re-oriented to face the demands of the job market. Until such time that our syllabi can be changed to reflect modern needs, we will have to mould graduates to suit the requirements of the private sector," the Minister added.

Several leading private sector organisations will be involved in the project. They will train the graduates in a variety of fields apart from imparting a knowledge of English and computing. Most of them are willing to absorb the trainees to their staff.

During the initial three-month training, an allowance of Rs. 5,000 will be paid to each graduate.

They will be given six-months on-the-job training, with an allowance of Rs. 8,000. They will also be given funds to follow professional courses in their chosen disciplines.

The Minister said Yovun Diriya and Tharuna Aruna are two of the most important programmes under Mahinda Chintana.