Financial Times

Need for universities to have degree-awarding business courses
By Quintus Perera
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) is now having discussions with universities in a bid to change the curricula of study courses to accommodate IT and also on launching courses for business careers at degree level.
Prema Cooray, Secretary General, CCC, who made these comments at the concluding sessions of a recent workshop organized by JobsNet, said the ILO has been facilitating the JobsNet and what is being sought is to match jobs as there seemed to be a huge mismatch.

He called for more vocational schools as the private sector needed young men and women in multiple roles. Cooray said the Minister (in charge) should not be the only one blamed on this issue, adding that, “We, private sector is also to be blamed as we do not interact with the universities and educational institutions, in order to provide real input to change the curricula”.

The 2-day workshop on ‘World of work – its issues, impediments and the way out’ at Hotel Dolphin Waikkala was intended to work out problem settlement and propose intervention to (a) educate, inform, encourage and solicit support of media in tackling the issue, b) actively involve all stakeholders to contribute towards gainful employment, and c) seek recommendations to assist in drawing up of a strategic action plan.

JobsNet is the National Employment Sourcing and Delivery System equipped with an on-line web interface referral system benefiting jobseekers, local and foreign employers and self-employment seekers by providing referrals for jobs and training, information, advice and career guidance. It is a public sector – private sector partnership, as a national project with the Ministry of Labour Relations and Foreign Employment representing the public sector and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce from the private sector. CCC manages the JobsNet.

Papers were presented by various resource persons on education sector, private sector, socio/economic focus and media. As part of Corporate Social Responsibility and changes it was recommended that awareness be made to educate both private and public sectors of the need for strategic corporate responsibility; careers/parental guidance to be aligned to current needs through private sector, churches and temples; and stigma and perceptions on certain job categories to be removed from the minds of parents and create awareness of national and CSR needs.

It was agreed that unskilled job seekers should be provided opportunities in obtaining employment with on the job training; encourage entrepreneurship with programmes in the vernacular and for professional sports to be promoted in the villages and communities to promote healthy living.

It was recommended that labour laws be strictly adhered to; JobsNet to have a database of organizations providing necessary career, skills and information for the development of jobs seekers and access to be provided through JobsNet; and private sector to be involved in developing the curricular at all levels of education.

Private sector to allocate resources within their annual budgets to ensure that a certain number of programmes are conducted in the rural schools to provide necessary inputs, knowledge and awareness. JobsNet and Chambers should be responsible in conducting educational programmes on skills requirements pertaining to particular jobs to be promoted through private sector sponsored TV programmes.

Under conflict resolutions it was recommended that the Government, Private sector and the civil society work together for permanent peace and conciliation. Under Economic Growth Policy Investment, it was agreed that the Ministry of Finance and the Board of Investment should promote increased domestic investment and the government, private sector and civil society to improve agricultural productivity; more investment in the rural infrastructure public and private sector while Ministry of Finance should take steps to reduce budget deficit and public debt.

It was recommended to introduce orientation towards private sector work culture in educational systems with public private partnerships.
At the outset of the workshop, Priantha Fernando, Project Director, JobsNet said there has been discussions at many forums on seeking solutions and accordingly in-depth research has been carried out but most of these reports are gathering dust. He said that this effort was to bring the stakeholders and the action plan together and move forward.

He said that one could not depend on the government for everything and noted, “We need to find solutions where employment is concerned to come up with a project proposal”. ILO Director in Sri Lanka Claudia Coonjaerts said that in the presentations almost everything has been dealt with and the ILO considered the whole issue of JobsNet as very important.

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