‘Parttime Jobs’ focuses on keeping job-seekers continuously occupied-The Island

By Steve A. Morrell

A Sri Lankan entrepreneur has initiated a part time job culture, where both young and the not-so-young could be effectively occupied earning money until they could be gainfully occupied in line with their qualifications.

Chamara Ratnayake Director/CEO JC Ventures (Pvt) Ltd., says there are graduates delivering Pizzas, similarly others working on the internet, quite often from home employed and earning wages, perhaps to be continuously occupied and contributors to the economy.

Ratnayake holds an engineering degree from the Moratuwa University in addition to an MBA.

"We started this company ‘Parttime Jobs’, in April 2014 with Japanese collaboration and the Sri Lanka Foundation. Part time jobs in Sri Lanka are not part of our job culture. In other countries, for example South Korea, Japan and Europe, part time jobs are popular", he said.

"As for my partnership with the Japanese, it was only a chance meeting and we got going from that point", he recalled.

Q: Do you have people applying to you yet?

We have about 5,000 on role currently. Of this number, about 300 are working part time, with us. We have found them such employment.

Q: What really got you going on this concept, ‘Parttime jobs’.

That’s interesting. Take university education. You take about four years to complete a degree. About 100,000 students take that long to graduate. They do not contribute to the economy during this time. Say age, 19 to 24. They depend on their parents for everything. In other countries, they do part time work and pay for their education. Here education is free.

I graduated from Moratuwa. About 400 to 500 engineering graduates pass out each year. They depend on others to get themselves effectively employed; whereas they have the skills to do things themselves. That is lacking. Our concept is to promote part time jobs to change that culture. Not easy.

Q: What is the reaction if projected to rural areas?

We have quite a few from outstation areas. In Sri Lanka, the unemployment rate is low compared with other countries. About 3% to 4%. Take the hotels, high rises, these are coming up. They all need manpower. We do not have that manpower. This would result in people having to do two or three jobs. Otherwise, we have to import people from India, China, where ever.

Q: Take real rural areas. They get a degree, but find they are not employable. What about them?

After about five years they apply, but find they are not capable enough to do the job. We have this problem in the computer department.

We hire, analyze potential employed part time, assess how they fit in and then they could get permanent employment.

It’s a big challenge, but this is what the trend is. And it is growing. Not only young people, but pensioners also who can work from home. We have people who write and so on. We are on the web, and contactable on email.

*parttimejobs.lk is an organization collaborated with SLF in providing Parttime Job Culture in Sri Lanka  

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පරිගණක සංගමය සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා පදනම අතර අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුමක්

ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා පදනම ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලයේ අධීක්ෂණය යටතේ කටයුතු කරන ජාතික නායකත්ව, අධ්‍යාපන සහ පුහුණු ආයතනය ලෙසින් ලෙස විවිධ වටිනාකම්වලින් යුතු අධ්‍යාපනික වැඩසටහන් හඳුන්වා දෙන පිළිගත් ආයතනයක් ලෙස පෙරමුනේ සිටී. එහි භාෂා හා තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණ අංශය විවිධ පරාසයන් ආවරණයවන අධ්‍යාපන වැඩසටහන් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම තුළින් පුරෝගාමී කාර්යභාරයක්  ඉටු කරමින් සිටී.

ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා පදනම තුළ විවධ පරාසයන්ගෙන් යුතු විෂය ආවරණයන් සහිත විවිධ අත්දැකීම් සම්භාරයක් ඒකරාශීව තිබෙන හෙයින් වැඩි වටිනාකමක් සහිත වෘත්තීය දැනුමක් ලබාදීමට සුදුසු පරිසරයක් නිර්මාණය වී තිබේ. එහිදී සමාජ හා ආයතනික සංවර්ධන අංශය , මනෝ විද්‍යා හා උපදේශන ඒකකය, සංචාරක හා ආගන්තුක සත්කාර කළමනාකරණ අංශය, ව්‍යාපාර හා ආයතනික සංවර්ධන අංශය, ඩිජිටල් සිනමා පාසල සහ යහපැවැත්ම සඳහා වූ මධ්‍යස්ථානය යන පුළුල් අධ්‍යාපන අංශ තුළින් මෙම දැනුම ලබාදීමට අවස්ථාව සැලසී ඇත.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුල තොරතුරු සහ සන්නිවේදන තාක්ෂණ ක්ෂේත්‍රය තුල ඉහල මට්ටමේ වෘත්තීය ප්‍රමිතීන් ස්ථාපිත කිරීමත්, පවත්වාගෙන යාමත් යන අරමුණින් යුතුව 1976 දී ශ්‍රී ලංකා පරිගණක සංගමය පිහිටුවා ඇත.ලාභ නොලබන ආයතනයක් ලෙස ක්‍රියාත්මක වන මෙම සංගමය තොරතුරු හා සන්නිවේදන තාක්ෂණ වෘත්තිකයන් සඳහා වන සම්බන්ධීකරන ආයතනය ලෙස සැලකේ. එය ජාත්‍යන්තරව තොරතුරු සැකසීම සඳහා වන ජාත්‍යන්තර සංගමයෙහි (International Federation for Information Processing- IFIP) 

සාමාජික ආයතනයක් ලෙස සහ ආසියා ශාන්තිකර කලාපයේ පිහිටුවා ඇති දකුණු අග්නිදිග ආසියා කලාපීය පරිගණක සම්මේලනයේ South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation (SEARCC) ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය නියෝජිතයා ලෙසද කටයුතු කරයි 

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පරිගණක සංගමය සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා පදනම අතර ඇති වූ මෙම අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුම තුලින් ජාතික ආයතන දෙකක් ලෙස එක්ව තොරතුරු හා සන්නිවේදන තාක්ෂණ අධ්‍යාපනය නංවාලීම සඳහා කටයුතු රාශියක් කිරීමට බලාපොරොත්තු වේ. 

ජායාරූපය : 

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පරිගණක සංගමය නියෝජනය කරමින් අජිත් සල්ගාදු -සභාපති , යසස් වී. අභයවික්‍රම- ලේකම් ,ආචාර්ය මලිත විජේසුන්දර, ආචාර්ය අජන්ත අතුකෝරල, දමිත් හෙට්ටිහේවා යන මහත්වරුන් සහභාගී වූ අතර,මහාචර්ය රංජිත් බණ්ඩාර -සභාපති, ප්‍රිමාලි විජේවීර- අධ්‍යක්ෂක මුල්‍ය සහ පරිපාලන, සමන්ත රත්නායක - අධ්‍යාපන කටයුතු උපදේශක, කෞශිකා ප්‍රේමරත්න සම්බන්ධීකාරක ශ්‍රී ලංකා පදනමේ භාෂා හා තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණ අංශය  යන මහත්ම මහත්මීන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පදනම වෙනුවෙන් සහභාගී වුහ  

இலங்கை மன்றத்தின் தமிழ் மொழி பாடநெறிகள்

இலங்கை வாழ் மக்களின் பாரம்பரிய மொழிகளுள் ஒன்று தமிழ் மொழியாகும். பல நூறாண்டுகளாக இம்மொழியானது எமது வரலாறு மற்றும் பண்பாட்டுடன் பின்னிப் பிணைந்துள்ளது. எமது நீண்டகால 

அரசியல்ääபொருளாதாரம்ääகலாசார சமூக நடவடிக்கைகள் அனைத்தும் தமிழ் மொழியுடன் இணைந்து நெருங்கிய தொடர்புடனேயே இடம் பெற்று வந்துள்ளன. எவ்வாறாயினும் காலத்துக்குக் காலம் இனங்களுக்கிடையே ஏற்பட்ட விரும்பத்தகாத கருத்து முரண்பாடுகள் காரணமாக மக்களிடையே தப்பெண்ணமும் சகிப்புத்தன்மை இன்மையும் ஏற்பட்டது என்பது கசப்பான உண்மையாகும். இந்நிலைமைக்கான காரணமாகää பின்னணியில் மொழிப் பிரச்சினையும் இருந்ததால் சமூகங்களுக்கிடையில் புரிந்துணர்வினை ஏற்படுத்தும் ஆக்கபூர்வமான பொறுப்புடன் செயலாற்றும் நடவடிக்கைகளில் ஒன்றாக தமிழ் மொழி கற்பித்தலை இலங்கை மன்றக் கல்வி நிறுவகமானது மேற்கொண்டு வருகிறது. தமிழ் மொழி கற்பித்தலில் இருபது ஆண்டுகளுக்கு மேற்பட்ட சேவை என்ற அடிப்படையில் ஆயிரக்கணக்கானோருக்கு இதுவரை காலமும் தமிழ் கற்பித்த பெருமையை இலங்கை மன்றம் கொண்டுள்ளது. 

தமிழ் மொழி கற்க விரும்புவோர் மற்றும் அரச உத்தியோகத்தர்கள் தமது தேவைக்கான மொழித்திறனை பெற்றுக் கொள்வதற்கு அமைவாக பாடத்திட்டத்தையும் பாடநூல்களையும் அமைத்து அவர்களிடம் மொழித் தேர்ச்சியினை ஏற்படுத்தும் பாடநெறிகள் பல இங்கு நடைமுறைப்படுத்தப் படுகின்றன. பாடநெறியின் முடிவில் தேர்வுகளும் நடத்தப்பட்டு சான்றிதழ்களும் வழங்கப்படுகின்றன. அடிப்படை மற்றும் இடைநிலைத் தமிழ்ப் பாடநெறியும் பேச்சுத் தமிழ் பாடநெறியும் தொடர்ந்து நடத்தப்படுகின்றன. இப்பாட நெறிகளைப் பூர்த்தி செய்பவர்கள் குறிப்பாக அரசாங்க சேவையாளர்கள் தமிழ் மொழியை பயன்படுத்தத் தேவையான தேர்ச்சியினைப் பெற்றுவிடுகின்றார்கள். 

இலங்கை அரசின் மொழிப்பயிற்சி நிகழ்ச்சித் திட்டத்தை பலப்படுத்தும் வகையில் இலங்கை மன்றம் மேற்கொண்டு வரும் பணி அளப்பரியதாகும். 

  

සමාජ විද්‍යා කථිකා දේශන මාලාවේ දෙවැන්න 'නිරුවත් මනස සංස්කෘතියෙන් වැසීම'

නායකත්ව, අධ්‍යාපන හා පුහුණුව  සඳහා වූ ජාතික කේන්ද්‍රය ලෙසින් ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලයේ අධීක්ෂනය යටතේ කටයුතු කරන ශ්‍රී ලංකා පදනම, මහින්ද චින්තන ඉදිරි දැක්මට අනුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ආසියාවේ දැනුමේ කේන්ද්‍රස්ථානය බවට පත් කරලීමේ ක්‍රියාවලියට අනුරූප වන සේ වඩාත් ක්‍රමෝපායි භූමිකාවක් ඉටුකර ලීමේ කටයුත්තට සහය දෙමින් ඇත. ඒ අනුව ශ්‍රී ලංකා පදනමෙහි කේන්ද්‍රීය අධ්‍යයයන කටයුතු විවිධ විෂය පරාසයන් ඔස්සේ ක්‍රියාත්මක වන අතර එහි එක අධ්‍යයන අංශයක් වූ "සමාජ හා ආයතනික සංවර්ධන අංශය" සමාජ විද්‍යාත්මක සහ සමාජ සංවර්ධනයට අදාල විවිධ කේෂේත්‍ර ආවරණය වන අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන් තුලින් සමාජ ප්‍රගමනයට් ප්‍රගමනයට දායකත්වය සැපයීමට උත්සහ දරයි.  

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පදනමේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය රංජිත් බණ්ඩාර මහතාගේ පූර්ණ අනුශාසකත්වය යටතේ "සමාජ විද්‍යා කථිකා" නමින් පෙළගස්වා ඇති ප්‍රසිද්ධ දේශන මාලාව අතිශය සාර්ථකත්වයට පත් වූ වැඩසටහනක් බවට  පත් වී ඇත. 

මෙම දේශන  මාලාවේ දෙවැන්න 'නිරුවත් මනස සංස්කෘතියෙන් වැසීම' යන මැයින් ඉතාමත් සාර්ථක ලෙස 2014  ජුලි මස 30 වන දින ශ්‍රී ලංකා පදනමේදී පැවැත් වුනි.  මෙහි ප්‍රධාන දේශකයා වූයේ ප්‍රවීන සාහිත්‍ය කළා විචාරක ආචර්ය සුනිල් විජේසිරිවර්ධනයන්ය. ලංකාර සඟරාවේ කතෘ කුමාර ලියනගේ මහතා ශ්‍රී ලංකා පදනමේ සමාජ හා ආයතනික සංවර්ධන අංශයේ සම්බන්දීකාරක ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ කථිකාචාර්ය ආර්. එම්. විජේරත්න මහතා, ශ‍්‍රි ලංකා පදනමේ අධ්‍යාපන කටයුතු උපදේශක සමන්ත රත්නායක යන මහත්වරුන් මෙහිදී සිය අදහස් පල කලහ.  

නෙස්ලේ ආයතනය සහ O2 කැම්පස් ආයතනයන් මෙම වැඩසටහන සාර්ථක කරගැනීම සඳහා සේවා සහ තාක්ෂණික අනුග්‍රහය ලබා දුන් අතර මූල්‍ය අනුග්‍රහය ෆ්ලික්ට් (FLICT) ආයතනය මගින් ලබාදෙන ලදී.   

Sri Lanka Foundation lays the foundation for its new wing “The Independence Wing”

Sri Lanka Foundation (SLF) earlier popularly known as the Nation’s Premier centre for Adult Education, has now transformed into the national centre for Leadership, Education and Training under the purview of the presidential secretariat. SLF managed by a Board of management, has turned out to be a prominent institution in the fields of  Leadership, Education, and Training and other diverse sectors  contributing to  National Development in line with the “Mahinda Chinthana” Vision for the future to be the “Miracle of Asia” as envisaged by the President of Sri Lanka Hon. Mahinda Rajapakse.

In order to provide a more significant impact on society as a whole, and to meet the growing demands of the community, providing better quality services to its clients, SLF has to equip itself with better accommodation and modern equipment and core facilities as a centre for Leadership, Education and Training.     

“The Independence Wing” is the latest addition to the Sri Lanka Foundation, with hope for a better future. This proposed building will constitute lecture halls and conference hall facilities, and also a Studio, a Mini Auditorium and office cabins basically proposed in the new wing. Taking into consideration the location of SLF at Independence square, the new wing has been named as “The Independence Wing”.  

         

The Foundation for the “Independence Wing” was laid by Hon. Basil Rohana Rajapakse Minister of Economic Development of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, on Friday 1st of August 2014. In the presence of the Chairman of Sri Lanka Foundation Prof. Ranjith Bandara, members of the board of Management of SLF, Heads of Government and Corporate Organizations, distinguished invitees and Staff of Sri Lanka Foundation.    

Sri Lanka Foundation Ties up with Computer Society of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Foundation (SLF) the National Centre for Leadership Education and Training under the purview of the Presidential Secretariat was founded in 1974 (Under Act of Parliament Sri Lanka Foundation Law  No.31  of 1973). Hence SLF was a premier non- formal adult education centre in Asia with a specific focus on democratization through training and dissemination of knowledge. Its areas of training and education include labour relations, gender equity, community development, grass roots leadership, good governance, disaster management, environment and health. Capacity building of civil society institutions and leadership training for community organizations are also major themes of SLF programs. These programmes are carried out in collaboration with governmental and non-governmental institutions, private, sector establishments, universities, trade unions, community and international organization via seminars, workshops, discussions, publications, and the print and electronic media.

SLF has now under its present leadership emerged as the National Centre for Leadership Education and Training and consists of seven main academic arms namely. The Social and Institutional Development Unit, Business and Enterprise Development unit, Psychology and Counselling Unit, Digital Film Academy, Language and ICT Unit, Tourism and Hospitality Management Unit and Centre for Well Being. These units will facilitate various aspects of educating the society.    

The Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) was established in 1976 for the purpose of promoting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and professionalism among those engaged in this field, and maintaining the highest professional standards among the Information and Communication Technology fraternity. It is a not-for-profit body. The CSSL is considered the apex body for ICT professionals in Sri Lanka. Internationally it is recognised as a member of IFIP – International Federation for Information Processing. IFIP is the leading multinational, apolitical organization in Information & Communications Technologies and Sciences, which is recognized by the United Nations and other world bodies. The CSSL is also the Sri Lankan representative in the South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation (SEARCC) which is the forum for national Information Technology professional societies in the Asia Pacific region. (Courtesy of www.cssl.lk)

The Language and ICT Unit of SLF which is established to develop ICT and Linguistic abilities. has taken the initiative to tie up with CSSL, and has come to a collaborative understanding with the vision of strategically empowering both the organizations in terms of developing National ICT Education, Leadership and Training in Sri Lanka. By this collaboration is expected mutual endorsement of Trainings, conducting collaborative events as well as facilitating events conducted by both organizations within the common context of ICT Development in Sri Lanka.

Photograph

Mr. Ajith Salgado-President of CSSL, Mr. Yasas V Abeywirkrama Secretary of CSSL, and executive council members Including Dr. Malitha Wijesundara, Dr. Ajantha Athukorala, Mr. Damith Hettihewa representing CSSL and Prof. Ranjith Bandara - Chairman SLF ,Mrs. Premalie Wijeweera – Director Finance and Admin, Mr. Samantha Rathnayake – Consultant Academic Affairs,Ms. Kaushika Premarathne -  Unit coordinator of SLF Language and ICT Unit Representing Sri Lanka Foundation.   

SLF Facilitated a Program for International Committee of Redcross (ICRC)

Sri Lanka Foundation (SLF) which has now been transformed into the National Centre for Leadership, Education and Training comes under the purview of the presidential secretariat and is managed by a board of management.  For over four decades SLF has been the premier institution for Leadership, Education and Training and has contributed to the overall National development of the country.  

Due to expansion in the educational activities, in order to be more focused with the varied subjects seven main units have been identified as follows, Social and Institutional Development Unit, Business and Enterprise Development unit, Psychology and Counselling Unit, Digital Film Academy, Language and ICT Unit, Tourism and Hospitality Management Unit and Centre for Well Being.      

The Social and Institutional Development Unit (SIDU) was established to develop the capacity of public and private sector institutions by way of promoting good governance and productivity through the development of soft skills and inculcating positive work attitudes amongst the employees. Amongst the areas coming under the purview of this unit are public sector reform initiatives, social cohesion, human rights, gender development, child care and poverty alleviation related activities. Hence SIDU has taken the initiative to provide Training for Trainers (TOT) for Personnel from “ICRC” in Sri Lanka, the world’s leading organization for disaster relief. The Staff of SLF contributed largely as a facilitator to the success of this programme. This programme covers soft skills, personality development, first aid training, and conflict management necessary for a Red Cross trainer.    

To mark the inauguration of this event Mrs. Cherine Pollini (Head of Delegation- ICRC), Dr. Preethi Panditharathna (Head and Specialist of ICRC), Ms. Amanda Tanghe (Cooperation Assistant -ICRC), Mr.Jayabuddhi Gnanathilake (Asst. Program Manager-First Aid) Representing ICRC participated while Prof. Ranjith Bandara- Chairman SLF, Mr. Samantha Rathnayake –Consultant Academic Affairs, Senior Lecturer Mr.Saman Weerawansa, Unit coordinator of Social and Institutional Development Unit Mr. R.M Vijerathne were present on this occasion representing Sri Lanka Foundation.