12 December 2019 11:40 pm
Some 100,000 youths who do not possess higher educational qualifications will be immediately recruited by the government to be trained as skilled labour and employed at public and state-owned establishments, Cabinet spokesman and Minister Ramesh Pathirana said today.
A separate government department would be set up by January 15, 2020, for the purpose with another 30,000 recruitment of youths who have studied up to GCE O/L examination, he added.
Minister Pathirana told the media at the weekly Cabinet news briefing that there was a large number of vacancies at multi-purpose development projects in many parts of the country and at public and government-owned establishments for skilled labour and minor job opportunities.
“The government expects to fill these vacancies from the youth in low-income families after giving them training in various trades and skills. The recruitment will be done under the supervision of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in an extremely transparent manner and completely out of political influence,” Minister Pathirana said.
The recruitment will be made on a district basis and the private sector will also be permitted to employ them.
The new department dealing with recruitment will be in operation by January 15. (Sandun A Jayasekera)