Sri Lanka requires hardcore skills for people to be employable today
While Sri Lanka is aspiring to become a knowledge hub in the region with a vast pool of talent amongst the upcoming youth, the country requires hardcore skills for the people to be employable. Cambridge University Press (CUP) India Managing Director Ratnesh Jha made this comment to the Business Times on the sidelines of the launch of ‘Building Bridges’ model by Corporate Skills together with the partnership of CUP at the Cinnamon Grand in Colombo last week. Mr. Jha said, “Understanding the whole core education framework in Sri Lanka, we have defined the longitudinal value of a learner.
Sri Lanka today requires hardcore skills given the fact that there is not only the upstream in terms of knowledge dividend but also a need for real skills for people to become employable, engage in the academic and skills space. Our presence here is essentially to help the society while working along with the Ministry of Education”. He said the Sri Lankan government has a very strong role to play in this model conducted by the Corporate Skills, a coaching and training organisation. It’s a public private partnership because the private organisations have two motives; real value and commercial motives.
The government has to find the best way to partner so it actually addresses those from a paradigm organisation perspective as well as demand the outcome. The ‘Building Bridges’ training model is conducted by six individuals from Corporate Skills. Training is conducted for upcoming youth who are looking for employment as well as improving the skills and knowledge of the existing employees in an organisation from the executive level to the boardroom. The content and resources provided by CUP for the training are very well tested in Sri Lanka by the Corporate Skills team, as mentioned at the launch.
Lack of communication, intelligence, confident and curiosity is what most individuals have in common today though the skills and talent is there, said Shyamila Hettiarachchi, one of the lead trainer at Corporate Skills during her presentation. She said, “Everyone is not the same and has the knowledge and skills to execute in a well profound manner. An employee should possess good communication ethics, be intelligent, have confidence and strive for curiosity to explain the brand image of an organisation that he/she works for.” The training model introduced by Corporate Skills is a one size tool that fits all, she added.
Minister of Plantation Industries Navin Dissanayake, who was present at the event, mentioned that there is a lot of talent in the country amongst the youth, but not enough skills for a corporate company to employ them. “Corporate companies that are established in Colombo do not like or take a risk to employ boys and girls from rural villages simply because of the communication and execution difficulties they go through, but the knowledge and talent is embedded within them. This needs to change with time and it is the right opportunity for Corporate Skills to train and develop the skills within the individuals to be employable in any corporate company in Sri Lanka or abroad,” he noted.