Employment programme commences

The programme to provide 100,000 employment opportunities aimed at eradicating poverty is scheduled to commence today (2).

The objective of the programme is to empower those who live in absolute poverty with no formal education and skills through the Multi-Purpose Development Task Force established by the Government, stated the President’s Media Division (PMD).

As per the PMD, job recipients are selected on the basis of the following criteria:

• Unskilled workers who have no formal education or with education lower than a GCE Ordinary Level examination qualification
• Must not be less than 18 years of age and not more than 40 years of age on the closing date of applications
• Unemployed member of a family eligible to receive Samurdhi benefits but does not receive it, or a member of a family receiving Samurdhi benefits but is unemployed
• An unemployed member of a family with elderly, sick parents or differently abled members of family

Further, all recipients must be permanent residents of the area of application.

Accordingly, only one member per family, who meets the aforementioned qualifications, will be considered for the opportunity. The recipient’s vocational programme will be decided based on the available job opportunities in proximity to the applicant’s residence and their choice of field for training.

Further, a training programme will be conducted at the training centres in the same area of the applicant’s residence or at nearby training centres.

Following a successful training, the applicants will be employed in their area of residence or in a nearby area, stated the PMD.

During the six-month continuous training programme, a monthly allowance of Rs. 22,500 will be paid and following the successful completion of the training programme, trainees will have the opportunity to be appointed to an accepted permanent government position in their own residence area with a non-primary skilled salary of Rs. 35,000 and allowances.

After a satisfactory and uninterrupted career record of 10 years, they will be eligible for pension, the PMD said.

However, employment will only be awarded based on the above criteria and any form of bribery will result in immediate rejection of the job opportunity, the PMD stressed.