IVETA conference commences

Ishara MUDUGAMUWA

Regional conference of the International Vocational Education and Training Association (IVETA) commenced yesterday at Hotel Taj Samudra under the patronage of the Vocational and Technical Training Minister Piyasena Gamage. This is the first ever IVETA conference held in Asia and it is hosted by the Department of Technical Education and Training (DTET).

Issuing a message President Mahinda Rajapaksa said "Vocational and Technical training field plays the key role of the development of the country. As a developing country we should understand the value of this field and it is our duty to take it to international level. Now we are in a good position in this field. It is a great honour to us as this conference is held in Sri Lanka. Because of this we can share our ideas with other countries and benefit more."

Addressing the conference Vocational and Technical Training Minister Piyasena Gamage said, in the sphere of socio-economic development, the commitment of our ministry is immense in order to providing high quality skilled labour towards fulfilling the global skilled labour market needs.

It has launched new productive policies to drive and change the direction of the TVET sector in Sri Lanka to suit the modern innovative era. Instead of traditional frameworks related to the aspects of TEVT, it has introduced new system to conform to global trends.

He said further "For the recognition of the level of competencies NVQ is considered as the best criteria in the world. It has created infrastructure to achieve competencies since basic level competencies to technician or higher level competencies at advanced diploma and graduate level.

The Authority has approved institutions such as technical colleges, vocational training centers and NAITA training centers to conduct courses from level 1 to 4. Colleges of Technology are granted the authority for level 5 and 6 courses and level 7 or the degree offered by the UNIVOTEC which was established recently. With the introduction of such a structure, the development of the TVET sector has been established under my ministry."

He also mentioned "Other than government training institutions, we encourage private sector industries and training providers to encourage in this NVQ system through public private partnership. Foreign assistance is very helpful for us. Most of our institutions were facilitated by many projects funded by donor countries. In this scenario, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Asian Developing Bank (ADB) and USAID are in the forefront of changing the route from informal system to formal system."

Skilled Development Minister Dayasritha Thisera, Vocational and Technical Training Deputy Minister P. Radhakrishnan , Vocational and Technical Training Ministry Secretary Thilak Hapangama IVETA President Kalus Sodemann. IVETA Regional Conference Organizing Committee Chairman and the Director General of DTET, H. L. Obeysekara, Foreign representatives and IVETA committee members and many other officials participated.