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One could also see undertones of such blind (and equally myopic) loyalties
" Sri Lanka can create productive employment opportunities for its young
people or send them abroad to work in more dignified careers"
Why we have condemned our people to toil in the Middle East, in unskilled
and semi-skilled work is that we have failed to create a sufficient number of
manufacturing jobs which are required to employ hundreds of thousands of
unskilled and semi-skilled youth who annually join the workforce.
Then, why does our workforce have a sizeable segment of unskilled
workers? The problem lies with the education system, which continues to
churn out a swathe of unskilled young men and women. Is it simply a
manifestation of unequal distribution of education resources and facilities in
the country? That is more likely to be only part of the problem. There is a
greater systemic problem in the system which teaches syllabuses which
have little practical value and deprives students with much needed soft
skills. The root of this problem lies at the heart of the compulsory Swabasha
(vernacular) education policy.
Our poor housemaids could well have found more lucrative jobs as
caregivers and call centre assistants if our education system kept up with
the changing world (and preferably, retained English as the medium of
instruction).
Even now, the employment prospects of many thousands can be improved
by imparting new skills. The government can invite the private sector to
play a greater role in those areas and provide those who are willing to
undergo training with financial assistance and vouchers. Until (and unless)
Sri Lanka fix its problems in education, our humiliation would endure.
The government has allocated 6 per cent of GDP for education; a veracity of
the figure is contested by the Opposition. However, the problem is not just
the fund, it is the absence of a vision; partly due to the fact that policy
elites themselves were a product of insular education that pervaded this
country for too long.That is why the government (and education ministry)
should invite the insights from the leaders of the private sector and their
active participation in formulating our education policies and even where it
is applicable syllabuses. Thousands of young women continue to head for
the Middle East to work as domestic helpers; that is proof that this is not
just a problem of the past. The low skill attainment is a persistent problem
of our education system. With right skills in its workforce and new physical
infrastructure, some of which have already been built by former President
Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka can create productive employment opportunities for
its young people or send them abroad to work in more dignified careers. To
do that we should turn around our welfare State from one that perpetuates
dependency to one that is an enabler.
Posted by Thavam