*Authorities run out of applications
*Over 10,000 swarm Police Park
Outstation job aspirants should contact the nearest application distribution centre instead of coming to Colombo - SLBFE
A tense situation prevailed outside Police Park on Highlevel Road yesterday morning, where over 10,000 youths had gathered to obtain application forms to apply for jobs in South Korea. Commotion broke out when authorities failed to provide a sufficient number of application forms which resulted in a heavy traffic jam in the area.
Police had to be deployed later and barricades erected to quell the unrest, which was eventually brought under control. Although over 10,000 youths had gathered to obtain applications, authorities could only provide 3,500 resulting in a majority of youths returning home disappointed. A large number of youths were seen camped outside Police Park overnight to obtain applications.
 Youth aspiring for jobs in South Korea clamouring to obtain applications outside Police Park on Highlevel Road yesterday. Picture by Ranjith Asanka |
Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) said that they had established 28 centres islandwide to distribute applications to Korean job aspirants. This would continue until Thursday, they said. The rush for applications was due to misinformation which resulted in a large number of outstation youths coming to Colombo despite having regional centres to cater to their requirement.
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According to the SLBFE there was no rush in regional centres where the distribution of applications took place in a very smooth manner. “In some centres there were only very few youths to collect applications,” they added.
“There is a daily quota at each centre and at the Bambalapitiya centre it was 3,500. The distribution of applications would continue up to Thursday in the usual manner,” an official said.
The SLBFE yesterday urged outstation South Korean job aspirants to contact their nearest application distribution centre instead of coming to Colombo for them.
The popular demand for jobs in South Korea among youths comes in the backdrop of Korean authorities announcing that they would increase the annual job quota for Sri Lankans from 8,000 to 15,000 from next year.
Foreign Employment Promotions and Welfare Minister, Dilan Perera while attending the passing out of the latest batch of South Korean job aspirants (195) from the Bogowantalawa SLBFE training centre, said that the Korean government had increased its annual job quota for Sri Lankans. While urging the youth to do their duty in Korea with commitment and dedication, the minister also told Korean job seekers that due to the efforts of their predecessors, Sri Lanka’s reputation in the Korean job market has seeing a rapid increase over the years.
The first hurdle for job aspirants to obtain employment is to pass the Korean language proficiency test.
Those who pass the examination is subjected to a medical test followed by a comprehensive in-house training programme at centres run by the SLBFE. Nearly 25,000 youths sat for the Korean Language proficiency test last year with a pass rate of 22 percent.
This year authorities believe that the pass rate would be higher. Sri Lanka’s ratings in the Korean migrant labour market has shown a rapid increase, improving its ranking from a meager 13, a few years back to be among the top three at present.
SLBFE Chairman Kingsely Ranawaka attributes the success to a well coordinated pre-job training programme which has effectively contributed to enhancing capacity of the labour migrants before departure.
According to Ranawaka some time back, Sri Lanka had faced the danger of losing job quotas from Korea due to a high percentage of complaints.
The agreement between the two countries would have been annulled if the complaints had exceeded 50 percent. The percentage of complaints have now dropped to less than three percent,” he added. In the Sri Lankan foreign employment market, Korea ranks very high due to the fact that the salary provided for migrant labourers in Korea (more than Rs.100,000 a month) is high in comparison to others like the Middle East. In 2006, nearly, 2,500 Lankans migrated to Korea for jobs, in 2007 it increased to 4,600, in 2008 - 8,000 and in 2009 there was a slight drop due to the global economic recession (4,500), in 2010 it increased to over 8,000 and this year authorities expect that it would cross the 10,000 mark.
Korean job aspirants could obtain application forms from SLBFE training centres at Ampara, Batticaloa, Ratmalana, Meegoda, Galle, Kadawatha, Meerigama, Tangalle, Jaffna, Kalutara, Kandy, Kegalle, Kurunegala, Dambulla, Chilaw, Trincomalee, Vavuniya.
Regional offices Anuradhapura, Badulla, Matara, Ratnapura. District Secretariats at Tissamaharama, Pannala, Mannar, Moneragala, Nuwara Eliya and Thamankaduwa.
Courtesy - Daily News by Rasika Somarathna
