(UTV | COLOMBO) – The Army orientation-training programme for 50,000 graduates, recruited to the public sector in line with the President’s Saubhagayaye Dekma (Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour) policy statement begins today.
The Sri Lanka Army in a media release said yesterday that this programme will be conducted in 51 Army Centers including, Security Force HQs, Regimental HQs and Training Schools.
The purpose of this one month long residential programme, implemented under five phases absorbs 10,000 graduates for each phase to cover all 50,000 graduates within five months. It is implemented together with the Directorate of Training to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes of those recruited graduates to ensure the effective contribution to nation-building as a trained, fully-fledged and energetic workforce. The project will be monitored by the Defence Ministry and coordinated and supervised at all seven Security Force HQs level.
Each phase through this methodology is set to train 10,000 graduates and achieve the full potential of the public sector simultaneously, covering subjects such as ‘Leadership and Team-Building Training’, ‘Management Training’, ‘Training in Private and State sector Establishments’, ‘Project work and Field studies’, ‘Cohesiveness and Resilience,’ critical in developing an efficient public sector employee while mitigating poor productivity.
The training would also impart knowledge on managerial skills, understanding on the objectives of the government mechanism, commitment, interest and dedication, self-confidence, innovation, flexibility, visualisation, respect and recognition in society.
Those participating graduates according to their districts are segmented before mentoring them for quality of the workforce and their attitudes. In addition, an opportunity would be made available to the participants to engage in project work and field studies to improve their skills by identifying issues and possible solutions in relevant fields.
Focused on the critical requirement to change the mindset of the public sector employee right from recruitment to retirement, the Army training course aims at developing their conceptual understanding on leadership, management, focus, confidence and competence to work effectively and efficiently on Long Term goals and Short-Term goals.
The short-term goal of this endeavour is to develop an energetic, target-oriented, disciplined and efficient workforce that is capable of providing a high-quality public sector service to all citizens of the country, based on leadership skills and traits, team spirit and competencies. Similarly, long-term objectives to be achieved in less than five years include the development of value-based public sector workforce, efficient mechanisms, transformation of attitudes and approaches, development of ‘working culture’ in society, recognition of public sector service, identification and evaluation of ongoing operational aspects, etc.
The Army training programme accordingly will be launched under five independent but inter-related modules by way of lectures, discussions, outdoor training activities, team building activities, study tours, capability studies and field studies in order to energize the public sector contribution in a dynamic way. Army Training Establishments, University Grant Commission, Ministry of Home Affairs, Selected State and Private Sectors and a few more state agencies work closely with the project.
The Army Headquarters will also liaise with the Presidential Secretariat and Defence Ministry to obtain strategic guidance for the conceptualisation of this graduate training programme throughout its five months. The liaison for the training programme will be provided by the Directorate of Training at the Army Headquarters with all stakeholders at various levels.