45,000 engaged in electrical profession; 95% lack adequate qualification: PUCSL

About 45,000 people engaged in the electrical-related profession in the country and more than 95% of these so-called professionals do not have recognized qualifications, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) Chairman Janaka Ratnayake said.

While Commenting on the launching of the second phase of awarding free National Vocational Qualification Level 3 (NVQ 3) Programme for Electricians, he said due to that they cannot move forward in their respective profession. 

Due to lack of standardized electricians in the country, there is a threat to electrical safety of households, he said.

Therefore, the PUCSL had launched a programme to provide free NVQ3 to all electricians as a solution to all these shortcomings.

"The minimum qualification to obtain the licence is the NVQ 3 qualification. Our goal is to offer NVQ 3 free of charge to all experienced electricians within the course of next year. The PUCSL launched this programme in March last year and more than 2,000 electricians have obtained NVQ 3 under this programme and qualified for the electricians' licence. 

The PUCSL have scheduled to offer NVQ 3 qualification for 1,500 electricians this month and the third phase of the programme will begin in November this year with a plan to offer the qualification to another 2,500 electricians by December this year," he said.

The PUCSL also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Vocational and Tertiary Education Commission (TVEC), the Vocational Training Authority (VTA) and the National Apprenticeship and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) to award NVQ 3 for electricians. 

According to the MoU, the examinations and course fees of the NVQ 3 are borne by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka on behalf of electricians. A special feature of this programme is, that the electricians will be able to qualify for NVQ 3 under the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL based Evaluation) system within four days.

The PUCSL together with Construction Industry Development Authority of Sri Lanka (CIDA) has planned to award electricians the professional licence after obtaining NVQ 3 level, Mr. Ratnayake said.

“In the future, regulations will be imposed where electricians will be required to obtain electrical work licenses. The National Electrician Licensing framework has already been introduced for electricians and career advancement under four different grades were introduced though the framework. Many organizations, including PUCSL and CIDA jointly prepared this framework. PUCSL plans to offer NVQ 3 level, free of charge for all the electricians in Sri Lanka and therefore all the electricians can easily obtain the professional licence once they are qualified. We are planning to issue the electrical professional licence at the district level from this month.” Mr. Ratnayake added. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)