Govt. to recruit more graduates ‘to strengthen public sector’

Leader of the House, Education Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, on Monday, said that the present government had decided to recruit more graduates to strengthen the public sector by increasing its workforce. Minister Gunawardena, who is also the Chairman of the Cabinet-Sub Committee appointed to look into the matters pertaining to the recently recruited 58,000 graduates to the public sector institutes, said as per the government’s policy statement, the government had decided to increase the number of recruits.

Minister Gunawardena said that the yahapalana government’s policy was to weaken the government sector and strengthen the private sector. “We have always believed in strengthening the public sector and the ongoing project of recruiting graduates is one step forward,” the Minister said during a Cabinet-sub-committee meeting on Monday to review the progress of absorbing the trainee graduates into the permanent cadre. The meeting was held at the Ministry of Public Service, Provincial Councils and Local Government.

The Minister said 58,000 graduate trainees had been recruited to state institutions. They are currently undergoing training”. He said that the government had planned to place 18,000 graduates out of the 53,000 as teachers under the Ministry of Education. The Cabinet of Ministers, in February, approved the proposal made by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to recruit 50,000 unemployed graduates for the state sector. Later, the number was increased to 60,000.

The Minister said Cabinet approval had been granted for issuing trainee appointment letters to the graduates and diploma holders recruited for the training to be made by the relevant District Secretary or Government Agent under the supervision of the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government and also to provide training to those trainees by attaching them to recognised institutions. On completing their training period, they are to be attached to the institutions in rural or remote areas under the central government and the provincial councils they have given consent to serve. Other two members of the Cabinet sub-committee are Public Services, Provincial Councils and Local Government Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon and Water Supply Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara. Senior ministry officials were also present at the meeting.