President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, yesterday (17) reviewed the 150,000 employment program which will come to effect from 2nd September onwards.

The President advised the relevant authorities to appoint the eligible graduates in accordance with their field of study, stated President’s Media Division.

He also said that priority should be given to the poorest among the poor in every Grama Niladhari division when selecting candidates for the program to employ 100,000 low-income persons.

President made these remarks during a discussion held at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday to discuss future modalities of the employment program.

President emphasized the necessity of providing on-the-job training as a measure to address shortcomings and deficiencies in the public sector. Qualified persons will be employed in the private sector too, he said. During the one-year training programme more attention should be paid to nurture qualities such as leadership, meeting targets, and building confidence, the President added.

President Rajapaksa also pointed out the importance of offering jobs for selected graduate employees at new State Ministries to achieve set goals for those ministries.

Many people apprised the President of the issue of shortage of teachers in schools when he visited several districts during the election campaign, PMD pointed out. It was also decided to appoint new job recipients to overcome this issue. Low-income recipients selected for employment under the ‘100,000 jobs ‘scheme will be directed to fill vacancies at 24 different trades where will be trained by the National Apprentice Board.

Secretary to the President P. B. Jayasundera, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, Retired Major General Kamal Gunaratne, Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government Mr. J. J. Ratnasiri and other officials were present at the discussion.