Printing industry of Sri Lanka is currently experiencing a considerable shortage of "Skilled labor". Specially as a field with jobs that requires manual labor as well as a lot of practical and theoretical knowledge. Finding the right people with enough creativity, sense of technology and passion is challenging.
Careers related to printing industry and their responsibilities.
Figure 1
Identifying the reasons for skill shortage.
Figure 2
Not enough places to get knowledge ?
Most people believe that there are not enough places for getting knowledge and improving skills on printing related jobs. The general perception in the industry and society is that the only way to go into a print-related career is to join a printing company as a trainee and progress from there.
However a further study on the matter proved otherwise. On the job training is of course a good way to enter the field but it is not the only path.
Currently there are three leading printing schools in Sri Lanka.
- Sri Lanka Institute of Printing - (SLIP Conducts the most number of printing related courses).
- National Apprentice & Industrial Training Authority (NAITA).
- Institute of Printing and Graphics Sri Lanka Limited (INGRIN).
All three of the institutes have many certificate and diploma level courses including,
Also there are many institutes for supporting courses like graphic designing and color separation.
In every year thousands of students leave school finishing their advanced level examinations.
According to the department of examinations, only around 60% of the A/L candidates gets eligible for universities every year. Approximately 125,000 - 150,000 in numbers. Even from those 60% only about 30,000 students are admitted annually due to the limited capacity of the country’s universities. Only a few thousands of the left out students choose vocational training as the next step. Most of the others usually find unskilled work or engage in casual jobs. even from those who turn to vocational training, very few number of students are in printing related studies.
So, if enough study opportunities are available what could be the problem ?
A few assumptions for the above are:
- People prefer comfortable office jobs.
If we look at the list of careers in printing industry ("Figure 1") presented at the beginning of this article, most of the jobs in the printing industry includes manual labor to some extent. In Sri Lankan society, people are more interested in office work than careers that require manual labor. A sales assistant, data entry or any kind of desk may look more appealing than becoming a print machine operator. sometimes the wages for the office jobs could be way less than an industry job. Yet people are comfortable with what they get.
- Low interest in skill build up.
As I stated before printing industry jobs need a lot of skill and practical knowledge. Sharpening these skills is not an easy thing. It takes a lot of time and patience. The capacity to tolerate the time it takes to build up enough skill to be a successful employee in print industry is hard to come by.
- Not knowledgeable enough of the opportunities.
Despite the fact that printing is an industry with many stable establishments, the general public may be unaware of the employment options offered in the field. Naturally the job seekers are more interested in the fields like IT, Banking or Medical. Careers in the printing industry may not look as interesting as those fields.
References:
(no date) Department of Examinations - Sri Lanka. Available at: https://www.doenets.lk/statistics (Accessed: December 2, 2022).
Bridging the skill gap: A challenge in Sri Lanka's quest for economic growth (no date) Talking Economics. Available at: https://www.ips.lk/talkingeconomics/2017/06/19/bridging-the-skill-gap-a-challenge-in-sri-lankas-quest-for-economic-growth/ (Accessed: December 4, 2022).
Naita (no date). Available at: http://www.naita.gov.lk/ (Accessed: December 4, 2022).
Site, D.U. (no date) Welcome to Ingrin Institute, Ingrin Institute - Printing & Graphics Sri Lanka. Available at: http://www.ingrinsrilanka.com/ (Accessed: December 3, 2022).
Sliop (no date) Sri Lanka Institute of Printing. Available at: http://www.sliop.edu.lk/ (Accessed: December 4, 2022).
Where have all the workers gone? 'sectoral mismatch' between Labour demand and supply in Sri Lanka (no date) Talking Economics. Available at: https://www.ips.lk/talkingeconomics/2018/01/29/where-have-all-the-workers-gone-sectoral-mismatch-between-labour-demand-and-supply-in-sri-lanka/ (Accessed: December 3, 2022).
I agree with you. There are shortage employees in Sri Lanka printing industry. Because printing industry is not comfortable job position. People find out comfortable highly paid job positions. Students are studying highly recognize educational path ways. That is the reason there are not qualified persons for this sector. There are limited employees for this industry but they not experienced. It is the reasons for the shortage skilled persons in this industry .
ReplyDeleteYes chethana, Careers in the printing industry are generally regarded as unappealing by the general public. However that idea is not 100% correct. I agree there is a lot of space for development. Yet, with a little more effort, this industry has the potential to become a fascinating and challenging field.
Delete