Econ. Ministry’s two-week course for graduate trainees starts tomorrow

Wednesday, 27 March 2013 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A two-week training course for 15,596 graduates the Economic Development Ministry has recruited as Development Officers and assigned to Divisional Secretariats countrywide will commence on 28 March.

The aim of this training course is to give them a basic knowledge of working as facilitators in implementing rural development programs to eradicate poverty by strengthening the family and the village, according to Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

He said this at a workshop for senior officers working as resource providers for the 15,596 graduates undergoing this training. The workshop was held at the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority auditorium.

The Minister said that recruiting such a large number of educated young people to the public service simultaneously was not a burden on the State but a great benefit. Therefore it is the duty of both people’s representatives and senior State officials to utilise the services of these new recruits for economic progress, he stressed.

The Economic Development Ministry has made arrangements for hold two-week residential workshops for these graduates undergoing training as Development Officers. The 15,596 graduates – divided into three groups of 5,150 each – will be trained at 16 centres in three stages. The first stage will commence on 25 March and continue till 10 April and the second will start on 18 April and continue till 5 May. The third will be from 18 to 24 May. Each workshop will have 150 trainees; 71% of the trainees are women while 29% are men.

Assistance of the armed forces will be obtained to strengthen their personalities so that they can take up challenges when they start working at village level and identify the needs of the rural population. The trainees will be given a comprehensive knowledge of the Divi Neguma National Program at these workshops. Female trainees who become pregnant or fall ill will not need to attend the training until they are back to normal.

Speaking further, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa said that the duty of the Development Officers would be to take the lead in eradicating poverty by economically empowering the individual and thereby the family and the village in accordance with the ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ manifesto.

Economic Development Deputy Minister A.H.M. Hisbulla, Additional Secretaries Hema Dharmawardhana, Priyantha Mayadunne and Shantha Bandara and Director of the Economic Development Ministry’s Re-awakening Project Eng. S.K. Liyanage were among those who attended the workshop for senior officers.