Supporting people with disabilities to access National Vocational Qualifications
Colombo, Wednesday 18th November 2020: On this year’s World Youth Skills Day which fell on July 15th, His Excellency President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a “Decade of Skills Development” from 2021-2030 to transform skills development for sustainable and inclusive development.
In the past, persons with a disability faced challenges when accessing skills development services or when have their skills assessed or recognised to be able to showcase to employers their willingness and talents for gainful employment in the labour market.
Taking this into consideration, Skills for Inclusive Growth (S4IG), an initiative of the Australian Government, in partnership with the Sri Lanka Ministry of Skills Development Vocational Education, Research and Innovation has been working to promote skills development, recognition and employment for persons with disabilities in Sri Lanka.
As an important step in their programmes the launch of the Government Circular and toolkit to support the provision of reasonable adjustments for candidates with disabilities during National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) final assessments took place virtually on the 17th of November 2020.
Speaking on the proposed launch, David Ablett, Team Leader for S4IG said: “S4IG is proud to be working with TVEC who have shown leadership to enable positive systemic changes that ensure prosperity for all Sri Lankans that engage in the skills development system linked with employment outcomes.”
At the launch, acting Australian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Amanda Jewell also showed her support: “The initiatives we celebrate here today aim to increase the participation of men and women with disabilities into the TVET system, and ensure that all Sri Lankans have equal access to opportunities.”
Hon. State Minister, Dr.Seetha Arambepola, also appreciated that this initiative will support people with disabilities to be engaged in the economic activities of the country with a productive employment promise.
This user-friendly toolkit will support NVQ assessors with a wide range of visual and practical examples of reasonable adjustments that can be made according to the candidate’s disability.
Janaka Jayalath, Director General (Actg.) of the Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission (TVEC) proudly noted that the introduced changes by TVEC will remove constraints and support skills recognition accessible to all.
For Further info
Janaka Jayalath David Ablett
Director General (Actg.), TVEC Team Leader, S4IG
jayalath@tvec.gov.lk david.ablett@inclusivegrowth.com.lk