Certified Management Accountants (CMA) qualified students from rural areas cannot secure public sector jobs as their qualification is not recognised by the Public Administration, said Prof. Lakshman R. Watawala who was inducted as the president of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (CMA) at a ceremony in Colombo last week.
He said the poor sons from rural communities cannot secure employment in the public sector due to the non implementation of the Cabinet decision in 2014 to provide employment to CMA qualified youth from remote areas.
“A State cannot prosper in this manner. It has to change its way of doing things. It’s a disgrace on the part of public officials to deny employment to children from the outskirts,” Prof. Watawala said. He said many in Colombo do not understand the plight of people in rural areas, their difficulties and poverty. The CMA wants to tap the talents of rural youth and bring them to the limelight.
CMA which was incorporated as a professional management accounting institute by an Act of Parliament in 2009 currently comprises over 15,000 students and 2,500 members.
“The Institute has grown in stature to be one of the main professional training institutes in the country.CMA hadn’t a red cent at the begging and it came the hard way without taking a cent from the government. We are proud of the role of the institute as mentor that that moulded professionals to be key figures in both public and private sectors,” Prof. Watawala said.
He said that unless there is a strong administration that could steer the country forward changing the constitution will serve no purpose.
“We must take a queue from the Indian Constitution which focuses on a solid administration. We need a strong base to take the country forward. Its appalling to see in newspapers on a Sunday which shows the amount of foreign universities offering programs for youth. There is no single local university with such programs to train the youth. A nation is built by national bodies,” Prof. Watawala said.
He urged management accountants to play a dynamic role in training youth to get to the top rung as digitization is taking away the lower end jobs.
“We must make use of the professionals in the country rather than hiring from other countries. We should also give serious thought to the lack of skilled workers which could have drastic implications if the agreement with other countries are singed paving the way for professions to secure jobs in Sri Lanka, Prof. Watawala said.
CMA, a member of the South Asian Federation of Accountants and the International Federation of Accountants is governed by a council comprising eight members.