Recently I met one of my batch mates who is a chartered civil Engineer managing his own construction firm. We were discussing the industry prospects and challenges. One of his major grievance was the scarcity of skilled and semi –skilled craftsmen like masons, carpenters, plumbers, electricians to do quality works. He pointed out that significant number of male school leavers, who find difficult to get into higher education path get employed as Three Wheeler Drivers instead of selecting vocational path. Even people who are already employed as craftsmen abandon their jobs and work as three wheeler drivers as it is an “easy” job.

Is his observation correct? Though I have not done a detailed study, available statistics suggest that it is quite possible. The three wheeler population in the country has passed one million as at today. The numbers have doubled within last five years. Sri Lanka’s labor force is nearly eight million. Further Entry barrier to own a three wheeler is quite low. With as much as Rs 50,000 capital and a leasing arrangement one can easily get a three wheeler and become self –employed!

What is the relevance of this message to us as Engineers? We need a strong layer of technicians and craftsmen in the country to carry out the engineering projects and operate systems and services. The low level of competencies in the execution layer, ultimately produce inferior products. There could be multiple socio economic factors including easy job opportunities like three wheeler driving that persuades a person not to select Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and becoming a skilled technician or a craftsman.

There should be much awareness about the TVET training institutions. Sri Lanka has several such government and private institutions. The school leavers, especially who do not qualify well for other higher education opportunities should be properly guided as to how they should select their carrier path. The employment opportunities and benefits shall be clearly shown, so that students’ families also encourage them for technical education.

Much more attention shall be paid at professional circles and wider discussion shall happen to establish strong middle and lower technical grades. Some people are positive for service liberalization through free trade agreements due to the deficiencies that we have locally with respect to mid and lower level trade personnel. Further studies shall be carried out to establish the skills in demand for Sri Lankan economy . Excess manpower supply after fulfilling local demand shall be targeted for foreign employment.

Eng. Indika Walpitage
Indika.walpitage@gmail.com