‘Country on accelerated growth path’

Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

The country’s tertiary education system should be opened for the private sector as this will facilitate to minimize the mis-match between the output of the mainstream education sector and manpower requirement. Though Sri Lanka has invested large sums of money on education, it has not adequately addressed the job market demand, International Monetary Corporation Minister Dr Sarath Amunugama said.

“We are a growing economy and the country is on an accelerated growth path where we as a developing nation has done well in the recent past. However, the country needs to have a growth strategy to encompass the benefits of the education provided,” he said at the ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the Graduate Institute of Science and Management (GISM) Sri Lanka.

The GISM launched GISM Research Centre and GISM Professional Development Centre to promote research and active professional development by creating partnership with industries for better intellectual stimulating learning.

“The country needs a new model to derive benefits from the specialized skills possessed by our young generation.

We need to make measures to correct the current mis-match in the education system and job market where the country could look forward to young talents to steer the growth momentum,” he said.

“We need to recognize frontier technology and fast expansion of tertiary education system will no doubt benefit this effort. The country needs to transform into a skill and knowledge based economy from factor based economy. Hence, a multidisciplinary approach is important to produce productive value added citizens.

Sri Lanka has vast potential in the agricultural sector and the growth of this sector should not be sacrificed for other sectorial growth as it is the case today. We need institutions and research to reach the next level of economic growth. With proper mechanism and strategy Sri Lanka could become a cereal exporting country,” Dr. Amunugama said.