SINGER (Sri Lanka) PLC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) to give its existing technicians formal vocational qualifications and to open apprenticeships to young people, Hiru News reported.
Certifying technicians who already have the skills
The central mechanism is Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) — a route by which workers with existing on-the-job experience can be assessed and awarded a qualification without retraining from scratch.
Under the agreement, SINGER’s technical workforce gains a pathway to NVQ Level 3 or 4 qualifications through RPL. NAITA will run the required assessments; SINGER will support employees through the process.
Apprenticeships in six trades
The two bodies will also recruit, train and assess apprentices through enterprise-based training, with NAITA providing the theoretical component and SINGER the practical industry exposure.
The trades identified at the outset are electricians; electronic appliance technicians; refrigeration and air conditioning technicians and servicemen; mobile phone technicians and repairers; and agricultural equipment and machinery mechanics. Further trades may be added by agreement.
What the two sides said
“Developing our people has always been an important part of how we strengthen the business for the future,” said Mahesh Wijewardene, Group Managing Director of SINGER Sri Lanka. He said the partnership creates “an opportunity for our experienced technical employees to gain formal recognition for their skills, while also opening pathways for young people for employment.”
NAITA Chairman H. Abdul Saththar said collaboration between vocational training institutions and industry is essential to developing skills that respond to workplace needs, and that the partnership would pair nationally recognised qualifications with practical industry exposure.
The signing photograph published with the filing shows Wijewardene and Saththar exchanging the signed document, which is consistent with the caption naming both as the signatories.
Not reported: the filing does not say how many SINGER employees are expected to be certified under RPL, how many apprentices will be recruited, over what period the programme runs, or what it costs. It gives no start date for the first intake, does not say whether apprentices are paid, and does not say whether a place at SINGER follows completion. No figure is given for SINGER’s current technical headcount.
