The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment held a job fair in Jaffna on Saturday, aimed at giving young people in the Northern Province direct access to overseas vacancies and to the Bureau’s own registration system, the Daily Mirror reported.
The programme ran at the Kanagaratnam Central College campus from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., as part of what the Bureau describes as a provincial-level employment promotion initiative.
What was on offer
Attendees could apply for overseas vacancies and register with the Bureau’s job bank. Several foreign employment agencies licensed by the SLBFE also took part, giving information on available vacancies and conducting direct recruitment on the day.
The fair focused on opportunities in Japan, Israel and South Korea, including positions available under Memoranda of Understanding signed with the Sri Lankan government. Those three destinations are reached largely through state-to-state arrangements rather than open-market agency placement, which is why the MoU route was singled out.
A special awareness session on the proper procedures for finding employment in Japan was also conducted. Japan is among the destinations most heavily targeted by unlicensed brokers, and a session on correct procedure is in practice a warning about the irregular alternatives.
Attendees could also get information on vocational training courses tied to occupations in demand in foreign labour markets, and register for Bureau-run training.
Who organised it
The fair was organised jointly by the SLBFE’s Northern Provincial Office and its Marketing Division. The Bureau said it plans to run similar programmes in other provinces.
Holding the event through the Northern Provincial Office rather than from Colombo, and at a school campus in Jaffna rather than a commercial venue, places it in a region whose workers have historically relied more on informal migration channels — the context in which the emphasis on licensed agencies and correct procedure matters most.
Not reported
The filing was published on the day of the fair and carries no figures. It does not say how many attended, how many vacancies were on offer, how many agencies took part, or how many registrations or direct recruitments resulted — and because it was filed while the fair was still running, it reports the plan rather than the outcome.
It does not name the participating agencies, specify the occupations or wage levels on offer in Japan, Israel or South Korea, or identify which MoUs apply to each destination. It gives no date or location for the programmes the Bureau says it will hold in other provinces, and carries no comment from the Minister responsible for foreign employment or from the Northern Provincial Office.
This article is single-sourced. No other verified newsroom had filed on the Jaffna fair at the time of writing.
