News

Swiss help to develop skills in hospitality trade here

Published

3 years ago

2022/12/25

The Swiss government has come forward to assist Lankans to develop and sharpen their skills in the hospitality and tourism industry.Swiss Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Dr. D. Furgler recently signed an agreement with the Swiss Hospitality & Management Academy (SHMA) of A. Baur & Co. Pvt Ltd. also known as Baurs at a ceremony held at the Swiss Embassy in Colombo to uplift the hospitality education sector in Sri Lanka.

The contract exchange for a private and public sector partnership with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) took place between Baurs MD and CEO Rolf Blaser and Ambassador Dr Furgler, said a media release.

It said: The Skills for Sustainable Growth (SSG) initiative came about during the height of the pandemic and has seen tremendous participation from both Baurs and SDC. At a time when the hospitality and tourism industry came to a standstill with increasing talent migration, Rolf Blaser discovered the Switzerland-based RIESCO program and quickly felt fervent about it being a practical and immediate solution in addressing the widening skills gap.

At the end of last year, officials from Baurs held a briefing with the Swiss Ambassador and introduced SHMA and the various solutions from an educational standpoint. With further discussions earlier this year, Baurs proposed a collaboration opportunity with SDC to localize and implement the RIESCO program in the country.

Bringing Switzerland’s distinctive reputation and quality standards in hospitality education which is one of the best in the world to Sri Lanka is a timely and ideal solution to the country’s tourism and hospitality sector, where hundreds of thousands of livelihoods depend upon, in the backdrop of various ongoing challenges, and eventually contribute immensely to the overall economy, ensuring that a quality pool of talented and employable professionals are created especially among the youth in the rural areas. This will with no doubt minimize the industry’s skills gap, take off the burden on the state, and go on to uplifting the country as a whole

Designed by Hotel & Gastro Formation, the RIESCO program is aimed at migrants entering Switzerland, who are heavily reliant on the state welfare system. The program methodology and content ensure that one completes the program in the shortest possible time and acquires the necessary skills that are highly employable, translating them into active participants in the hospitality sector and economy.

SHMA plans to sustain this program through an advanced digitalization platform, working with both the public and private sector. Coming under the SSG initiative, this will bring about immense benefits to the learners and country as a whole, in contrast to lengthy and conventional hospitality education programs in Sri Lanka.

By aligning and implementing a Swiss Vocational Skills Development (VSD) curriculum in hospitality management, SHMA will enhance local curriculums throughout the numerous learning centers island-wide. Through its train the trainer programs, SHMA will go onto further strengthen impactful teaching methodologies.

The SSG program aims to create 2,240 skilled young men and women within three years, with the first batch of student intake of 240 scheduled to take place during July 2023, followed by training 800 students in 2024 and 1,200 students in 2025, including increasing female representation to 40pct from the current industry levels exhibiting below 10pct. This will cover core hospitality operations and soft skills development including hospitality English, grooming and etiquette, and basic IT skills.

The districts will include Jaffna, Trincomalee, Ampara, Puttalam, Kurunegala, Kandy, Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Monaragala, Rathnapura, Batticaloa, Anuradhapura, and Hambantota among others, with a drive to also identify potential learning centres within the districts.

The certificate program runs for 9 months, with the first six months consisting of 70pct practical classroom learning and 30pct theoretical knowledge, and thereafter take up a 3-month internship with possible extension to 6 months. Baurs has already partnered with many hotels in facilitating these internships, with more joining on-board. The program will pursue a hybrid teaching model where a SHMA faculty member will be placed at each learning centre for 6 months upon implementation, ensuring that it’s well absorbed and in line with the standards and frameworks of the learning curriculum.

The SSG program will play a key role in minimizing the skills gap and enhancing the quality of education through increased female participation, competent talent pool, quality standards in par with global trends, and making Sri Lanka among the best tourist destinations. The inclusion of females and returning workers is a main Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of this project, to increase equal employment opportunities and ensure correct and safe employment channels and migration paths.

The SSG hospitality certificate provides a steppingstone towards enrolling for Professional Diploma programs facilitated by SHMA and awarded by École hôtelière de Lausanne EHL, world’s number one hotel management school. SHMA provides world class education through its VET by EHL Professional Diploma programme, available in Culinary, Food & Beverage and Hotel Operations, with the next intake taking place in February and March 2023.

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News

Financial contributions received for ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund

Published

14 hours ago

2025/12/22

Priyan

The Government’s ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund, established to provide relief and support to communities affected by Cyclone Ditwah, continues to receive financial contributions on a daily basis.

Accordingly, the Containers Transport Owners Association made a financial contribution of Rs. 1.5 million, while the Association of SriLankan Airlines Licensed Aircraft Engineers contributed Rs. 1.35 million to the Fund.

The respective cheques were formally presented to the Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, at the Presidential Secretariat on Friday (19).

The occasion was attended by W. M. S. K. Manjula, Chairman of the Containers Transport Owners Association, together with Dilip Nihal Anslem Perera and Jayantha Karunadhipathi.

Representing the Association of SriLankan Airlines Licensed Aircraft Engineers were Deshan Rajapaksa, Samudika Perera and Devshan Rodrigo handed over the cheque.

News

UNICEF representatives and PM discuss rebuilding schools affected by the Disaster

Published

15 hours ago

2025/12/22

Priyan

A meeting between Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and a delegation of UNICEF representatives was held on Saturday, (December 20) at the Prime Minister’s Office.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister explained the measures taken by the Government to ensure the protection of the affected student community and to restore the damaged school system, as well as the challenges encountered in this process.

The Prime Minister stated that reopening schools located in landslide-prone areas would be extremely dangerous. Accordingly, the Government is focusing on identifying such schools and relocating them to suitable locations based on scientific assessments.

The Prime Minister further noted that financial assistance has been provided to students affected by the disaster, enabling parents to send their children back to school without an additional financial burden. Emphasizing that school is the safest place for children after their homes, the Prime Minister expressed confidence that the school environment would help restore and improve students’ mental well-being

The Prime Minister also highlighted that attention has been given to several key areas, including the relocation of disaster-affected schools, restoration of school infrastructure, merging and operating certain schools jointly, facilitating teaching and learning through digital and technological strategies, and providing special transportation facilities. She emphasized that the Government is examining these issues and is committed to finding long-term solutions.

The UNICEF representatives commended the Government’s commitment and the initiatives undertaken to restore the education sector and assured their support to the Government. Both parties also discussed working together collaboratively on future initiatives.

The meeting was attended by the UNICEF representatives to Sri Lanka Emma Brigham, Lakshmi Sureshkumar, Nishantha Subash, and Yashinka Jayasinghe, along with Secretary to the Ministry of Education Nalaka Kaluwewa, Director of Education Dakshina Kasturiarachchi, Deputy Directors Kasun Gunarathne and Udara Dikkumbura.

(Prime Minister’s Media Division)

News

NMRA laboratory lacks SLAB accreditation

Published

16 hours ago

2025/12/22

Thilina Walpola

Dr. Sanjeewa

Drug controversy:

“Setting up state-of-the-art drug testing facility will cost Rs 5 billion”

Activists call for legal action against politicians, bureaucrats

Serious questions have been raised over Sri Lanka’s drug regulatory system following revelations that the National Medicines Regulatory Authority’s (NMRA) quality control laboratory is not accredited by the Sri Lanka Accreditation Board (SLAB), casting doubt on both the reliability of local test results and the adequacy of oversight of imported medicines.

Medical and civil rights groups warn that the issue points to a systemic regulatory failure rather than an isolated lapse, with potential political and financial consequences for the State.

Chairman of the Federation of Medical and Civil Rights Professional Associations, Specialist Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa, said the controversy surrounding the Ondansetron injection, which was later found to be contaminated, had exposed deep weaknesses in drug regulation and quality assurance.

Dr. Sanjeewa said that the manufacturer had confirmed that the drug had been imported into Sri Lanka on four occasions this year, despite later being temporarily withdrawn from use. The drug was manufactured in India in November 2024 and in May and August 2025, and imported to Sri Lanka in February, July and September. On each occasion, 67,600 phials were procured.

Dr. Sanjeewa said the company had informed the NMRA that the drug was tested in Indian laboratories, prior to shipment, and passed all required quality checks. The manufacturer reportedly tested the injections against 10 parameters, including basic quality standards,

pH value, visual appearance, component composition, quantity per phial, sterility levels, presence of other substances, bacterial toxin levels and spectral variations.

According to documents submitted to the NMRA, no bacterial toxins were detected in the original samples, and the reported toxin levels were within European safety limits of less than 9.9 international units per milligram.

Dr. Sanjeewa said the credibility of local regulatory oversight had come under scrutiny, noting that the NMRA’s quality control laboratory was not SLAB-accredited. He said establishing a fully equipped, internationally accredited laboratory would cost nearly Rs. 5 billion.

He warned that the failure to invest in such a facility could have grave consequences, including continued loss of life due to substandard medicines and the inability of the State to recover large sums of public funds paid to pharmaceutical companies for defective drugs.

“If urgent steps are not taken, public money will continue to be lost and accountability will remain elusive,” Dr. Sanjeewa said.

He added that if it was ultimately confirmed that the drug did not contain bacterial toxins at the time it entered Sri Lanka, the fallout would be even more damaging, severely undermining the credibility of the country’s health system and exposing weaknesses in health administration.

Dr. Sanjeewa said public trust in the health sector had already been eroded and called for legal action against all politicians and public officials responsible for regulatory failures linked to the incident.

by Chaminda Silva ✍️