Proficiency in English, best weapon to fight class division – Secy. Weeratunga

Proficiency in English in every stratum, ethnic and social divide is the best weapon to fight class division and social discrimination, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga observed.

Weeratunga made these observations when he addressed a gathering in Colombo to mark the signing of an agreement between the Vocational Training Institute of Sri Lanka (VTISL) that functions under the Youth Affairs and Skills Development Ministry and the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASS-COM). The agreement will guarantee employment opportunities for youth who successfully complete computer training courses at the VTISL.

In his speech, Secretary Weeratunga further said class and social discrimination would not end until rural youth learn to communicate properly in English and became computer literate as well.

 “When a student finishes his education, he or she should at least have a rough idea of what he or she wants to do in the future and also what soft skills he or she should process in order to pursue that goal. Students who attend city schools usually are at an advantage in this regard as they get better guidance. Most of the development at the moment is city centred but the President is determined to change this trend and take the fruits of development to the village,” he stressed.

President Rajapaksa took measures to set up the VTISL in 1995 while he was Minister of Labour. Sri Lanka has made remarkable progress in the last few years and been promoted to 66 after at one time being only 138th in the global computer literacy ranking.

Highly sophisticated computers are not needed in order to gain computer knowledge, the Secretary said.