The Hon. (Dr.) Nihal Abeysinghe
Hon. (Dr.) Nihal Abeysinghe seconded the motion on employment for persons with disabilities, citing data indicating that a large majority remain unemployed despite having employable skills. He stated that the existing 3 percent public service employment quota for persons with disabilities is not being properly implemented and said the National People’s Power Government proposes increasing it to 5 percent. He also proposed better coordination among officials at Divisional Secretariats to identify and direct persons with disabilities into suitable employment.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Madam Deputy Chairperson of Committees, I second the motion by Hon. Sugath Wasantha de Silva on employment for persons with disabilities. While the 2012 census shows 71 percent not in employment, ESCAP, the UN, and the ILO in 2019 indicated that only about 15 percent of persons with disabilities are employed—meaning 85 percent are out of employment.
¶ 02 Although our law reserves 3 percent of public service jobs for persons with disabilities, it is not being properly implemented. Consequently, even those with employable skills are not being selected, leading to economic hardship. The National People’s Power Government proposes increasing the quota from 3 percent to 5 percent.
¶ 03 At Divisional Secretariats there are various officials—Social Services Officers (central and provincial), officers for elders, Vidatha officers, disaster relief officers, women’s development officers. Through coordination of these officers, we can better channel persons with disabilities into suitable employment. We will work towards that.
¶ 04 Thank you.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 8 July 2025 ·No. 1752482630017444 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. (Dr.) Nihal Abeysinghe. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 8 July 2025. No. 1752482630017444. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/10974