Youth encouraged to take to engineering

by Nilma Dole

More youth should be interested in the engineering sector as there are plenty of job opportunities, said Nimal Siripala De Silva, Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management at the 104th annual sessions of the Institute of Engineers last week.

“Most of our Arts students go on strike, asking the government for jobs, but there are several engineering jobs in the State sector,” the Minister said.

According to the Minister, the Irrigation Department recently had 63 vacancies for Irrigation Engineers of which only 16 were filled and 76 vacancies for Junior Engineers who have passed their NDT (National Diploma in Technology) of which only 66 were filled.

“This shows that there are many jobs but we need more youth to be interested in this area, this would even develop our nation’s technology and bring benefits to our economy,” he said.The Minister said, “The Faculty of Engineering at the University of Moratuwa even allows those without qualifications and graduates from other streams the chance to enter their faculty if a career change is required.