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| Sunday, 9 November 2003 |
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VTA Job Fair a success by Rehana Amidon The Nipunatha Job Fair held on October 23, 24 and 25 is being described as a major success for the Sri Lanka Vocational Training Authority (VTA) with positive responses from thousands of youth who attended the event. The VTA received a total of 6,881 registrations with 6,283 participants under the employment sequence, 198 students outside of the VTA and 400 schoolchildren, sources said. The Job Fair invited VTA-trained but unemployed youth from 15 districts. Those who had received training authorities includes the National Apprentice Institute of Training Authority (NAITA) and Department of Technical Education Training (DTET) to meet the foreign and local employment participants, agents and prospective employers. M. Akram Rajabdeen, vice chairman of VTA said that he was disappointed at the lack of interest shown by the private sector. "The private sector always looks for experienced people to work for their organisations, whereas the government, through the VTA system, spends Rs. 30,000 to train each student. The private sector should recognise that the government is at least training them for one year for demand driven jobs available in organisations", he said, adding that it was the duty of the private sector to give a helping hand to the government to take in VTA-trained youth, guide them into jobs and employ them permanently. The Fair failed to provide local employment for many who were forced to apply for foreign employment, Mr. Rajabdeen said. This meant that a total of 5,591 youth had applied for foreign employment. Around 1,362 registered for local employment of which immediate employment was given to 41 students, while inquiries were made about 324 self employed. Mr. Rajabdeen said that although questions had been raised about the lack of interest shown by the private sector in the Fair, it still strove to achieve some of their goals. He added that he intends to continue holding the Job Fair but on a different basis. "We would like to have a local enterprise meeting with industrialists at Chamber of Commerce and district levels, and with small and medium enterprises to find out their requirements for local employment", he said. |
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