Sharp growth in employment opportunities By Ananda Kannangara The Government’s decision to initiate a number of development projects to create jobs for unemployed youth in the country became a reality during the past three years. Thousands of youth found jobs in both public sector institutions and in foreign countries through the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE). President Mahinda Rajapaksa hands over an appointment letter to a teacher According to statistics by the Ministry of Public Administration, over 50,000 unemployed graduates found various categories of jobs in Ministries, Departments and in Local Government Institutions during the past three years. In addition, over 5,000 Management Assistants, 300 Administrative Officers and about 2,000 office assistants were also recruited during this period. SLBFE statistics reveal that over 250,000 Lankans found employment in Middle Eastern and non-Middle Eastern countries during this period. The SLBFE said last year over 175,000 persons took up foreign jobs through the Bureau’s channels with the security and other welfare facilities provided by the Lankan Government. The majority found jobs in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon and Bahrain. A large number of Lankans also found jobs in Korea, Italy and Cyprus with attractive remuneration during this period. Public Administration Minister, W.D.J. Seneviratne said in addition to the jobs provided during the past three years, another new batch of around 20,000 graduates and non-graduates will be given permanent jobs during the next two years. The Ministry has also planned to recruit around 3,500 new Gramasevaka Niladharis before June 2013. Grama Niladharis The Minister said the country needs around 14,000 Grama Niladharis while there are only 11,000 Grama Niladharis in all Grama Niladhari divisions in the country. Therefore, the Ministry has decided to conduct a survey and appoint new Grama Niladharis to all Divisional Secretariats in the country including to the Northern Province where there is a shortage of Grama Niladharis in certain divisions. Minister Seneviratne also focused attention on providing more Government sector jobs to unemployed youth in the North. He said during the past three years, especially with the dawn of peace in the North, over 5,000 Government jobs were given to youth in the Jaffna district and steps have also been taken to provide more employment opportunities to youth in Jaffna in the coming months. He also spoke about the vacancies for teachers and said a survey will be carried out by the Education Department to gather information on teacher vacancies in all 9,600 public schools in the country. A senior Health Ministry official said the Health Department will carry out a survey on doctors, nurses, attendants and PHIs and fill all vacancies shortly. Minister Seneviratne also directed senior officials in all public sector institutions to provide details of vacancies in their departments to fill them within the next six months. According to the Chairman, SLBFE, Amal Senalankadhikara, over 266,000 Sri Lankans took up overseas employment during the first 10 months of this year and have contributed US$5.1 billion to the country’s reserves. This has even surpassed the income received by the Government from exporting tea, coconut, rubber and garments. Grama Niladharis He also said that another 100,000 Sri Lankans will find overseas jobs in the coming months and that more training centres will be set up in the country for the benefit of Lankan workers who leave for foreign jobs in the future. These training centres which are set up all over the country are run by the Bureau and the training is given free. Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Minister Dilan Perera highlighted the invaluable services rendered by Lankan migrant workers and said over 1.7 million Sri Lankans are employed in Middle Eastern and non-Middle Eastern countries at present. Rataviruvo According to Minister Perera, Armed Forces’ personnel made a great sacrifice to protect our country from terrorists and are therefore called ‘Ranaviruvo,’ while Lankan migrant workers who make great sacrifices to improve the country’s economy could be called ‘Rataviruvo’. Minister Perera said Sri Lanka is on a fast track to development. All sectors in the country including agriculture, highways and tourism are being rapidly developed, while setting an example to the world. He said the Bureau has also focused attention on providing special training for nurses, bankers and accountants to fulfil the demands in the international job market. Senalankadhikara has also planned to send skilled Lankan workers to developed countries such as Canada, America and Australia. He said the Bureau’s objective is to make Sri Lanka the Wonder of Asia. He said providing skilled labour to the international market would help develop the country’s economic growth. According to Minister Perera, when President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the Minister of Labour, he saw the potential for foreign employment and opened the gate for Lankan workers to find jobs in foreign countries. Minister Perera has also planned many other new marketing strategies to send male and female workers to foreign countries. Accordingly, he has plans to upgrade housemaids to the level of house-aids by giving them high quality training and sending them to countries such as Cyprus. Housemaids in Cyprus are well looked after with strictly implemented labour laws and high benefits. The Bureau has also planned to send trained miners to Australia and nurses to Qatar. According to the Minister, the SLBFE has signed Memoranda of Understanding with Italy, Iraq and Seychelles to send more Sri Lankan workers to these countries in the coming months. The Bureau has also planned to sign MoUs with Mauritius, Azerbaijan and China before the end of this year as such countries need a large number of trained workers for their industries.