Govt. plans to train 300,000 youths with vocational skills: Minister Amunugama
The Science, Technology, Research, Skills Development, Vocational Training and Upcountry Development Ministry has set up an online job bank, ‘Nipuni’ to ensure the availability of skilled labour and trained youth for their non traditional employments which are in big demand in the job market, Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama said.
He told Daily Mirror yesterday that ‘Nipuni’ online job bank and the Vocational Training Centre in Hingurakgoda set up by the Science, Technology, Research, Skills Development, Vocational Training and Upcountry Development Ministry will be ceremonially opened tomorrow (8) by President Maithripala Sirisena.
“The Nipuni job bank with an online app, which is the first of its kind in Sri Lanka will facilitate public and private sector employers to recruit skilled youth trained in various vocations to the global standard with confidence as they have been trained from National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) Standard 1 – 7 and capable of performing any vocation or profession in their respective fields to the best possible quality, Minister Amunugama said and added his Ministry has plans to train 300,000 youth in various vocational skills who could compete in the local and international job markets.
“What is most important
The Nipuni job bank with an online app, which is the first of its kind in Sri Lanka will facilitate public and private sector employers to recruit skilled youth
is that there were a dearth of skilled labour in certain fast growing sectors in Sri Lanka in the fields of industry, construction, tourism, IT and many other technology related professions. Our aim is to train youth for these vocations to the global standard and create a steady supply of youth with higher salaries to the international and domestic job markets,” Minister Amunugama stressed.
Minister Amunugama noted that Sri Lanka’s youth must not get downhearted for not being able to enroll universities for higher education and the doors were opened for them to have a specialized training in a vocation that had a big demand in the job market. Therefore, they have the opportunity to climb the ladder of success with a proper training in a vocation or profession with the assistance of the Skills Development and Vocational Training Ministry. Big Sri Lankan companies like John Keells and Mobitel had already recruited nearly 1,000 youth with NVQ qualifications under this programme with higher salaries than the average salaries drawn by employees who have traditional but better educational qualifications.