Need transformational change in entire education process: Susil

Colombo, June 23 (Daily Mirror) - Due to the lack of updates in state universities, there is a higher demand in the job market for students who have studied at private universities, Education Minister Susil Premajayantha said.

He said this while addressing the International Industrial Expo 2024 event held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) today.

Therefore, there should be a transformational change in the entire education process, the Minister said.

"The education in the country is still based only on knowledge and it has become a huge problem. Therefore, the entire education sector should be modernized by changing this situation," he said.

Research and development should be done for the industrial development of a country and it should start from schools and move towards universities while taking necessary steps to turn the research done in universities into products, the Minister added.

"The Industrial Development Board started School Entrepreneurship Circles in June 2023 at the Ministry. Currently, a group of 16,000 students from 400 schools are actively working in these school entrepreneurship circles," Minister Premajayantha said.

He said that the circulars for the establishment of entrepreneurship circles in schools are being issued.

Meanwhile, Education Secretary Ms. Thilaka Jayasundara said that the successful programme implemented by the Industry Ministry aims to increase the percentage of entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka's workforce from 2.8% to 10% by 2030. As a result, the percentage of entrepreneurship has grown from 2.8% in 2023 to 3.2% in 2024.

This is a very positive trend, and to further support this progress, entrepreneurship development has been included in the school curriculum. Additionally, necessary steps are being taken to develop the human resources needed by the industries through the 12 professional skills institutes in Sri Lanka.

She added that when Sri Lanka's entrepreneurship rate grows to 10%, the country's per capita income is expected to triple.