ILO launches report on ‘Skills Gap in Four Industrial Sectors in Sri Lanka’

Tuesday, 21 April 2015 01:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched a report entitled ‘Skills Gap in Four Industrial Sectors in Sri Lanka’ recently at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel. In response to a request from the former Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development to carry out an assessment of the skills gap in four initial priority sectors identified by the Sri Lankan Government, the ILO commissioned this study to identify critical issues that need to be addressed in

order to bridge the gap generated by the skills mismatch in the four sectors. As such, this report serves as an overview of the skills gap in the information communication and technology, tourism and hospitality, construction and light engineering industries. This study is part of the National Skills Sector Development Programme 2014-2020 (SSDP) that has been developed to improve the quality and relevance of skills training in Sri Lanka. The first report was handed over to Labour Ministry Secretary Upali Wijayaweera at the launch event with representatives from Government institutes, the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC) and trade unions present at the occasion. Addressing the gathering, ILO Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Donglin Li, stressed that the four sectors covered in the study make a cumulative contribution of 9% of the country’s GDP and 10% of total employment in Sri Lanka. The objective of this report was to review conditions of demand and supply related to skills-development in these four sectors, considering the shortage of workers with necessary skills, wage gaps, the lack of instructors and other factors. Wijayaweera said that the world faced a potential shortage of millions of highly-skilled workers and Sri Lanka would feel the detrimental effects of this very soon as well. “Education and training systems do not provide an adequate number of trained workers for the environment,” he said, estimating that less than 10% of the demand for skilled Sri Lankan workers could actually be met. General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya, Leslie Devendra said: “The problems in the education system range from teaching in lower grades being two-dimensional and drop-outs who enter the workforce at a young age to children who complete their secondary education without formal instruction on the dynamic of work environments. (In Sri Lanka) children who leave college do not know anything about the world of work.”