SLFP Governments gave rural youth opportunities for advancement - Export Development Minister

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party has rendered yeoman service to the youth of the nation by providing opportunities for advancement in society available to talented youth from rural backgrounds, Minister of Export Development and International Trade Professor G.L. Peiris, said last week.

He was addressing a graduates' seminar at the Mahaweli Centre organised by the Sri Lanka Nidahas Tharuna Aruna 111 Upadidhari Sangamaya established by the public sector graduates recruited under the Graduate Employment Scheme of the Government.

Prof. Peiris referred to the service rendered by successive SLFP administrations to youth lacking privilege. Among the initiatives he described were the decisions by the then government led by Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike to put in place a system for university admissions which took into account the quality of the facilities in secondary school education available in the district from which the student came, the commencement of instruction in Sinhala and Tamil in professional courses of study including law, the holding of interviews in the national languages and other measures directed towards provision of equality of opportunity.

Minister of Healthcare and Nutrition Nimal Siripala de Silva observed that the Government was proud to have been able to provide jobs for 42,000 graduates.

Those passing out of the universities will be able to benefit from further employment opportunities which will be generated by the investments now being made by both the public and the private sectors, with the dawning of a durable peace.

It is the duty of educated youth in these circumstances to carry a strong message to voters of the Colombo district about the reality of the current political and economic situation, Minister de Silva added.