Youth Affairs Ministry to draft National Youth policy

Solutions to all these problems could be found by providing a good education to our youth

Youth Affairs and Skills Development Minister Dulles Alahapperuma said his Ministry has begun obtaining public comments and suggestions to draft a ‘National Youth Policy’ for the first time in the country’s history.

Addressing a ceremony held in connection with the distribution of appointment letters to 28 instructors and lecturers of Technical Education at the Ministry auditorium, Minister Alahapperuma said, unless the policy makers, educationalists and politicians take measures to fill the gaps in the job market and education system, no one can rule out another youth uprising.“We have seen two major youth uprisings in the South in 1971 and in 1989 and a 30 year youth uprising in the North-East that ended in 2009, which they say were the result of intolerance among the youth, due to unemployment, deprived education opportunities and poverty. But I must say that solutions to all these problems could be found by providing a good education to our youth. This is why we have launched a programme to provide education opportunities not only to those who posses GCE O/L or A/L qualifications but to those who know only to write and read, which was long overdue in the national education system up to now,” Minister Alahapperuma said.

The Minister said the most pressing problem among policy makers and educationists is to make those who fail even to obtain GCE O/L qualifications to participate in nation building.

“A popular solution for unemployment among these youth was self employment.