Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya emphasized that many of Sri Lanka’s graduates remain unemployed due to a lack of soft skills, particularly in English.

She made these remarks while delivering the keynote address at an awareness event held in Colombo today (19), organized under the Serendipity Knowledge Program (SKOP) by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in partnership with the National Planning Department of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.

Speaking further, Prime Minister Amarasuriya stated that education should be seen as a personal investment and stressed that the divide between STEM subjects and STEAM subjects which include the arts, humanities, and science is an artificial one.

“If we examine why we are producing too many arts or humanities graduates, the answer lies in our highly unequal school system,” she said.

She noted that the majority of schools are located in disadvantaged areas.

“Our Education Secretary, who is here today, will provide specific figures highlighting the major challenges we face in science and mathematics education, particularly the difficulty in finding enough teachers for these subjects at A-level,” she added.

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya further pointed out that inequality is being created within the school system itself and that the issue has not been properly addressed. She remarked that current efforts to address this inequality are focused only at the level of higher education, and she questioned how this problem can truly be resolved.

“By dumbing down our university programs, by introducing so-called solutions such as soft skills training, IT for social sciences, or English courses as if these alone are going to solve all our problems and produce graduates who are innovative and research-oriented... I beg your pardon, I’m sure I’m going to ruffle a few feathers here,” she said.