The Department of Manpower and Employment has been delivering career guidance programs since 1999 island wide with the assistance of its career guidance officers and Human Resource Development Officers. Under the purview of the Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Foreign Employment and Petroleum Resources Development, the Department of Manpower and Employment (DME) initiated the school to work transition programme with the financial support from ILO CLEAR project, funded by the US Department of Labour.

The training programme will address the demands of the child labour elimination and assist youth to a smooth school to work transition. This training will also facilitates students to be made aware of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) measurements, Decent Work and Hazardous Forms of Child Labour (HFCL). 140 officers will be trained from Department of Manpower and Employment, Ministry of Labour, Foreign Employment and Petroleum Resources Development.

The ToT training will be held in 3 locations to train these officers covering 5 districts. These trainers will continue to conduct in the districts to fulfill the requirement of school to work transition programme in the country. The programme will take place as follows.

• ToT in Colombo on 26th and 27th November 2018
• ToT in Ampara on 29th and 30th November 2018
• ToT in Kurunegala on 6th and 7th December 2018

The ultimate aim of the training programme is to improve participation rate of children in vocational training to build their skills for the present world of work, eradicating worst forms of child labour by 2022.