Leadership training should be mandatory for youths - Defence Secy

Sandasen MARASINGHE

Defence and Urban Development Ministry Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said it should be mandatory for the country’s youths to undergo leadership training to earn laurels both locally and internationally.

“Leadership training should be compulsory for youths to build self - confidence and earn victories in the international sphere as well as locally,” the Defence Secretary said at the Piping Ceremony of the SLEAS Class 1 Principals and MOE officers as Brevet Colonels at the Defence Ministry yesterday.

He said if their confidence, leadership qualities, team work abilities etc were not built up properly, they would not be able to take the best probable decision at the crucial point of a competition which would be a let down for the country as well as a setback at a special occasion in one’s life.

The Defence Secretary said the Sri Lankan cricket team while being the best, failed on four consecutive crucial occasions, the last being at the 20-20 World Cup as they lacked self – confidence.

He said Tony Greig told him at a discussion prior to the match that the Sri Lankan team was talented enough to win the World Cup. Secretary Rajapaksa said an environment should be created for children to take decisions without being spoon fed. He said it was left to Principals, teachers and schools to play an important role in achieving this end.

Secretary Rajapaksa said the government in its attempt to inculcate leadership qualities in youths initiated a leadership course for university entrants last year as the first phase.

He said students, parents and certain groups protested against this course at the beginning, However 98 percent agreed the course was successful after the completion of the course.

The Defence Secretary said due to intense competition today, children have no time for extracurricular activities such as participating in the National Cadet Corps which would build leadership qualities, team work, team spirit, self - confidence etc which would finally produce a complete youth.