NVQ Level 3 certification for those qualified in electrical engineering
View(s):The Government plans to award some 40,000 people who have studied electrical engineering courses with NVQ Level 3 (National Vocational Qualification) level certification after reevaluating their knowledge, Power Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said.
Addressing an event organised by the Vocational Training Authority in Kamburupitiya under the “Gamin Gamata” national programme, the Minister said at present only about 5000 out of 45,000 electricians in the country have a NVQ Level 3 qualification.
Qualified electricians who are awarded the NVQ Level 3 certificate will have an opportunity to join the Ceylon Electricity Board and the Lanka Electricity Company, the Minister said.
The Government also plans to upgrade the NVQ Level 7 qualification up to NVQ Level 10. It has decided to recognise NVQ Level 10 as a postgraduate qualification, he added.
“Accordingly, a student will have the option of working their way up from NVQ qualifications and switch to a conventional degree. Likewise, a student following a conventional degree will also have the option of switching to an NVQ course,” Mr Alahapperuma said.
Though some 7000 small scale power plants are due to be built in the country in future, there are not enough qualified electricians at the moment to work on them, he said.
- SJ