an appeal to unemployed graduates in Sri Lanka

“kalkpanakaranna” please. Sri Lanka is desperately short of skills of every type, our education system has not produced the people to fill this skill shortage. However, while it is the lucky few, who gain entry into University, there are more people who do not get into university who have jobs than those who have actually got their degrees. That means if you have a degree for whatever reason you are unemployable.

Just think why that is. Students, mainly in the liberal arts, are indoctrinated by those, who are out of touch with reality. This is because as usual they are not taught to think through what is being said. They just believe like robots. The JVP share much of the blame for this as its ideology has no place in the 21st century. No one is owed a job by anyone, least of all the government.

Speak to any large private employer and ask them why they do not recruit from the mass of unemployed graduates into their management training ranks, and they will tell you that these people while intelligent have unrealistic expectations about their ability and what they are willing accept.

It is easier to train one with O levels, than a graduate, as the former is willing to learn, while the latter thinks they know everything. Just stop and think why? These graduates have an inflated opinion of themselves as they put themselves in the top 1% of those in the academic achievement stakes in the country. They must be humble enough to know that all they have is a degree which in other countries is taken as the ability to problem solve and evaluate tasks and accomplish goals of an employer successfully. In Sri Lanka they look for just a paycheck with a prestigious state institution with tenure, preferably in a bank but sometimes in a school as a teacher. It is status rather than challenge that they look for, as it seems that the university system has dulled their thought process too. Is it any wonder that those with private tertiary education are more assured of a job? University students toeing the JVP party line oppose the setting up of private universities in Sri Lanka. Now 8,000 leave the country every year to pursue private education overseas as compared with the 16,000 who enter University here. This is at a great foreign exchange cost to the country, which can be partially retained if private universities are permitted here.

Whether you permit private education or not you are not going to change reality. You are not guaranteed a job in either context. You have to earn your job. There is a severe dearth of skills as alluded to earlier and if you are willing to look around and see if there is something that interests you and are willing to undergo some training you too can get a job, It is the willingness that the employer is looking for.

The status and pension rights that go with government employment, which you believe is guaranteed for life can change in your lifetime so don’t be fooled. People with less education than you are working earlier and earning a lot more than you can ever dream of. Even the Army is taking 18yr recruits with hardly any O levels and pays them 25,000 a month, three times what you can expect from a government job. So why are you still withholding your labor waiting for the non existent promise of a govt. job.

There are vacancies in every field, but most especially in skills. Carpenters and electricians earn a lot more than a bank employee. Even a baas now charges 1000/- a day and expects lunch and tea breaks to be provided, and that is not in Colombo.

So please get off that pedestal and train for a job that has prospects, and a future. Don’t be conned and don’t con others into believing lies, and be flexible in what to expect. There really is no unemployment anymore in the island, except in your category of graduate. So make a choice and live by those consequences. Most of you with degrees are now sorry you have one as you see your classmates with no degree going up the ladder in their chosen fields, if that does not teach you a lesson nothing will.

As John Kennedy said, know what you can do for your country and not what your country can do for you and then you will be in the right direction. There is nothing called a free lunch. You have to earn it. Life is not easy, but you have received a greater share of the nations largess, so you owe it to your self and the nation, that is the rest of us that helped you get to your position, to make the most of your skills and look for and get something you like rather than wait for something to fall into your lap. It never will and what ever that falls into your lap is not worth having, a fact you will only realize when it is too late.

Your country desperately needs people like you, but you must be willing to change your attitude and have a positive outlook on non governmental employment, as that is the growth area in the future, and will help you advance faster, with more satisfaction and self respect.