President says vocational education should be on par with global standards
View(s):The quality of existing vocational education institutes and technical colleges must be improved to be on par with global standards, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said recently.
Vocational education is an important aspect of further education that needs to be addressed because of the high demand for it, locally and abroad, he added.
“Not everyone is interested in pursuing an academic degree. The focus on purely academic qualification is likely to decrease in the future job market.”
“Some of the world’s leading companies like Google, Apple, IBM and Tesla no longer require job applicants with academic degrees. Instead they require applicants with demonstrable skills and abilities relevant to their work,” the President said.
He said the options available for such skills, locally, need to be improved and institutes that provide such training need to be upgraded to high standards.
“The ability to offer continuing education including ‘refresher courses’ should be enhanced. Given the rapidly changing global environment, a large number of jobs including white collar jobs that were thought to be safe from automation and artificial intelligence are under a risk. As technology advances, people need to be better prepared to change careers,” President Rajapaksa said.
He also said providing continuing education through online education and weekend courses is important, so that employees can acquire new knowledge and skills, without disrupting their work.
“By increasing the country’s skills base through vocational and industrial training we can increase the productivity, efficiency and earning capacity of our workforce,” he said.