Tribute to Institute of Technology

by P. Rajaratnam in Nuwara Eliya

Chairman of the Commercial Bank Mahendra Amarasuriya told the convocation ceremony of the graduates of the eighth batch of the Gamini Dissanayake Institute of Technology and Vocational Studies that it was a praiseworthy to note that while the graduates who pass out from the various universities in Sri Lanka were unemployed, the graduates from this Institute have been gainfully employed within the country and abroad.

He said during the past eight years ninety percent of the students who passed out from the institute have found jobs. Amarasuriya congratulated the tutorial staff, the principal and the chairperson, Mrs. Srima Dissanayake and the young Director Navin Dissanayake MP for Nuwara Eliya and the foresight of the late Gamini Dissanayake who founded this Institute for the advancement of the youth in the country and in particular the Nuwara Eliya district.

The Chairman outlined the field of education and technology in Sri Lankan compared to the system of education with the rest of the world, particularly with our neighbour India, in the advancement of technology and language, especially English.

He said that on his recent visit to Hyderabad, he was amazed to see the vast strides of development in the field of technology and other allied subjects. Hence, the Sri Lankans should pay more attention in the context of technology and to be acceptable by the vast developed world.

The Commercial Bank chief said that the Institute should focus on the plantation sector where the youth cannot be ignored.

He said the present generation should not rely on their ancestral undertaking and the younger generation should be educated to fit various fields. Amarasuriya said that the tourism industry is likely to boom with the end of terrorism. The steps taken by the Gamini Dissanayake Foundation to launch hospitality training programs will create a large volume of employment projects within the country, due to the fast growing industry.

Director of the Institute Navin Dissanayake as a politician meets a large number of parents with the applications for jobs for of their children. He said it was the duty of children to look after their aged parents since the parents task of educating them was over.