News
Upskilling Railways workers
View(s):Pix and text by Rekha Fonseka
A group of females recruited as unskilled workers to the Sri Lanka Railways Department have been trained in winding armatures and repairing fans fixed in train compartments.
The women manually wind two armature a day and were recruited in 2012 during the tenure of then Transport Minister Kumara Welgama.
First the women laborers were used to man the ticketing centres, and their deployment was not a success. Later they had to be restricted to other jobs such as cleaning, making tea, and assisting other sections.
Nimble hands at work
However, Railways officials understanding the capabilities of the women had provided technical knowledge. Thereafter, the women were sent to the fan section of the Department where the women were given the task of restoring broken fans of train compartments.
Hansika Jayasiri said that when she was recruited her job was not specified.
“I was sent to 27 factories in Ratmalana railway works yard, I worked at an electrical section and trained for over four years. I was given a special training on repairing fans by dismantling fans and winding armatures.”
She added that Director Works Kingsley Ranjith trained them.
At first she was not happy with the work as her hand used to hurt at the end of the day, “yet when I gained knowledge the work became easy.”
L H R Chandrani, a resident of Doadangoda, explained that she, too, served in factory 33, obtained a promotion and came to the fan
section.
“During training I thought of leaving service as I accidentally stuck my hand when winding armatures, but later I gained knowledge due to the training I obtained.”
She said those who did not have any basic knowledge gained skills to self-sustain.
A senior official of the Department who declined to be named said the Department had vacancies and excessive numbers of employees.
The Department lacks professionally trained, technically skilled, employees. It has a history of political appointments of unskilled employees. However, senior Railways officials have managed to train less skilled employees and groom them to become technical support providers.
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