Neth FM reports that the government is preparing to temporarily suspend the repatriation of Sri Lankans living abroad from Sri Lanka from midnight today (07) following the re-emergence of the corona epidemic in Sri Lanka.
According to the report, a large number of Sri Lankans have been diagnosed with coronavirus. .
Meanwhile, President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa convened a discussion at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (06) evening on the future plans of the State Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Market Diversification.
The officials of the Bureau of Foreign Employment were instructed to hold discussions with the relevant agencies and sectors to extend the employment contracts of the workers who could not return to the country due to Covid 19 even though their employment contracts had expired.
Migration for employment is a key component of Sri Lanka’s economic development and the total migration community in Sri Lanka is 1.2 million. It was revealed that about 200,000 people go abroad for employment annually and that number has been reduced to 40,000 this year due to the Covid epidemic. As soon as the Covid 19 epidemic successfully opened its overseas airports and airspace, it already expanded its language skills training and training to enroll more skilled workers overseas, and already has 17 training centers to establish a pool of skilled workers needed for the overseas labor market. It was mentioned that a class has been started.
President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa instructed to expedite and streamline the process of directing skilled workers with internationally recognized qualifications to foreign employment.
The President pointed out that this would bring high benefits to the country as well as the workers and ensure job security.
There is a high demand for skilled workers in the world job market. Emphasizing the need to implement training programs targeting the job market in countries such as Korea and Japan, the President instructed the Bureau of Foreign Employment and the Vocational Training Authority to work out joint plans. The job market in Eastern European countries such as Poland and Romania is now open to Sri Lanka. The President said that a suitable workforce should be created.
He also pointed out the importance of identifying foreign employment opportunities for graduates. So far no proper attention has been paid to this and even art graduates can avail these opportunities, the President said.
The President also said that employment agencies that send workers abroad should act more responsibly and that there are allegations that the involvement of these agencies in the harassment of workers abroad is not sufficient. He added that the main objective of sending workers abroad was not to earn foreign exchange but to provide them with a better standard of living.
