COPE hails Vocational Training Authority for fulfilling recommendations

COPE Chairman Prof. Ranjith Bandara, State Minister Shantha Bandara, MPs Dayasiri Jayasekara, Eran Wickramaratne, Jagath Kumara Sumithraarachchi, Major Sudarshana Denipitiya, Rajika Wickramasinghe and Madhura Withanage at the meeting held last week.

•35,000 students recruited this year targeting domestic and foreign job markets

•Recommendations to start new courses to match the job market

•Instructions to increase salaries of consultants

The Sri Lanka Vocational Training Authority was summoned before the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) on August 9, 2023 under the Chairmanship of Prof. Ranjith Bandara, and the progress of implementing the COPE recommendations given on March 23, 2023 and May 9, 2023 were reviewed.

Education Ministry Secretary Nihal Ranasingha, Vocational Training Authority Chairman Air Vice Marshal Prasanna Ranasinghe, and others were called for this meeting.

At the beginning of the committee meeting, COPE Chair congratulated the progress made by the Vocational Training Authority in accordance with the recommendations given during the previous COPE meetings. Thereafter, attention was paid to the following matters.

The Chair of the authority stated that after holding a preliminary workshop to prepare the composite plan of the authority, a composite plan was prepared for the year 2023-2027 and the Board of Directors approved it.

It was disclosed that steps have been taken to fill the vacant post of Director General and the interview will be held in the future. Furthermore, since the authority to give approval for recruitments has been reassigned to the Management Services Department, he was informed to take necessary steps to fill the remaining six main posts and other vacancies.

The Chairman of the Vocational Training Authority said that 35,000 students have been recruited this year targeting the domestic and foreign job markets. It was also recommended to prepare a formal programme to improve it and issue an internationally recognized certificate to the already skilled workers.

The Chairman of the Authority stated that they will work according to the job demand from South Korea, Oman and other countries and will pay more attention to the areas where the job demand is high. It was disclosed that an agreement with the Foreign Employment Bureau is currently in place and the data of nearly 2,000 skilled workers has been provided.

The COPE Chair emphasized the need to direct the youth who drop out of school to proper vocational training. It was disclosed that a new programme has been started by the Education Ministry and the pilot project was recently held at Dharmaraja College in Kandy.

Accordingly, it was recommended to start new courses to suit the job market.

The Committee emphasized the need for these institutions to become self-revenue generating instead of being maintained by the Treasury. (Fee Levying system) Furthermore, since the payments made to the consultants are not sufficient, attention was paid to problems such as consultants leaving the service. Accordingly, the following recommendations were made: To increase the salaries of consultants and to attract qualified people for it, using the money collected through the courses by the Authority itself to increase the payment of instructors (Fee Levying system) and initiate a new programme to train counsellors and give them some professional qualifications.

The COPE Chair instructed to take necessary steps in consultation with the Management Services Department to increase the payment of consultants.

State Minister Shantha Bandara, MPs Dayasiri Jayasekara, Eran Wickramaratne, Jagath Kumara Sumithraarachchi, (Major) Sudarshana Denipitiya, Rajika Wickramasinghe and Madhura Withanage, were present at the Committee meeting.

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