The Minister said that due to long standing shortcomings in the country’s education system the youth and especially rural youth face severe employment problems. He said that the traditional education is no longer sufficient to obtain employment at today’s workplaces and youth need to be equipped with technical and vocational knowledge and skills, required by the present world of work.

The Minister said that it is the responsibility of his ministry to ensure that such vocational and technical training is provided at an internationally accepted level by all relevant institutions in the country both within his ministry and outside.

He said his ministry has therefore launched a special initiative to give the trainees in the institutions under his ministry a good knowledge of English and adequate skills in its communication. Dr Amunugama asked the new language instructors to treat their new assignment not merely as a job but as a national duty of empowering the hitherto disadvantaged youth of the country..