'Tiger terrorism no deterrence in implementing Mahinda Chintanaya'

Sandasen Marasinghe

COLOMBO: The terrorist activities executed by the Tiger terrorists would not deter implementing the Mahinda Chintanaya, said Education Minister Susil Premajayantha at the Temple Trees.

Minister Premajayantha was speaking yesterday at the National Diploma in Engineering Science Awards Ceremony 2006 of the Institute of Engineering Technology, Katunayake. One hundred and ninety seven who completed the four-year course received their Diploma certificates in Engineering at the Temple Trees.

The Minister said, with the implementation of the Mahinda Chintanaya the country needed more trained and skilled labour such as in the fields of civil, electrical and mechanical engineering to develop the country.

Even today the country needed to produce nearly 4,000 middle-level engineers yearly but only around three hundred such engineers are passed out annually, the Minister said.

Minister Premajayantha said, the Mahinda Chintanaya was focused on the development of roads, hospitals, houses and the power supply. It also concentrates on the development on ports and power stations that would need the service of more middle level engineers.

He said if there were more facilities, lecturers of these institutes could recruit more students into these training institutes.

There was a great demand for these Diploma holders locally and internationally. He said there were about 1,500 Sri Lankan Diploma holders in Melbourne, Australia who were passed out from the German Tech Institute in Moratuwa. They have a good demand in Australia. They even have a separate organisation of their own in Melbourne.