
The Government will settle all the debts/loans of SriLankan Airlines, Electricity Board and Petroleum Corporation in the next 10 years or even before, said President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
He was speaking at the opening ceremony of Sri Lanka’s first skills and jobs exhibition “Sri Lanka Skills Expo 2023” at the BMICH on Friday.
He said that the successive governments have pumped in huge amounts of money and provided capital to these institutions with no avail and said that had they been spent on education; Sri Lanka would be having the best education system in Asia today.
“When I looked at the expenses of this country in the past ten years, I noticed one thing. We had used money for some government institutions such as these without allocating money for education. There were many other programs that did not benefit the country and now we have to pay the debt.
“The President said that Sri Lanka has the best education in Asia if the money spent on some government institutions in the last 10 years was spent on education.
“Our education system has not been modernised as needed today and Sri Lanka is 10 to 15 years behind.”
The education sector will be modernised and work will be done to create a young generation equipped with knowledge as well as nourished with abilities.
“Sri Lanka can create a knowledge-based economy. Therefore, plans should be made to impart knowledge. Plans are also needed to provide qualifications for employment after schooling.”
A comprehensive modernisation of the education sector in the next 10 years has been planned and a cabinet committee has already been appointed. President also stated that he will work on new education reforms as soon as possible.
President Wickremesinghe, while thanking the organisers for hosting an event of this nature, said that looking back at last year it was impossible to even think about hosting an event of this nature. In addition to the turbulent environment in this country, the country’s economy was collapsing.
“We have now started the program of building the economy of this country again.”
The event is a valuable opportunity for members and policy makers from many fields in Sri Lanka to exchange their views and promote skills in those fields and it is expected that it will make a significant contribution to the country’s economic development.
The website of the Agricultural Technology Extension Center was also officially launched under the chairmanship of President Wickremesinghe.
The exhibition will be open from 9.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. today, the last day. It is held on the theme “Life is a possibility - A job is a possibility”.