Sri Lanka to expand opportunities for people with disabilities

Sri Lanka plans to introduce new measures to expand employment opportunities for people with disabilities and increase their participation in the tourism sector, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said on Friday.

Representatives of the Parliamentary Caucus for Persons with Disabilities and civil society organisations earlier submitted a set of budget proposals covering six priority sectors to Secretary to the President Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, the PMD said.

The proposals were prepared in line with the “Leaving No One Behind” national policy framework, which aims to ensure the equal participation of people with disabilities.

Representatives of the parliamentary caucus said existing training programmes did not adequately prepare people with disabilities to enter the open labour market.

Kumanayake said the government would improve infrastructure to support the proposed measures.