Colombo, Jul 17 (IANS): Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has declared 2021 to 2030 as the Decade of Skills Development, a statement from his Office said.

The Decade of Skills Development builds on the success of Sri Lanka spearheading the adoption of World Youth Skills Day which was established through a proposal presented to the UN General Assembly in 2014 by incumbent Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa during his tenure as the President, reports Xinhua news agency.

In the statement on Thursday, the President's Office said the Decade of Skills Development is expected to transform the general, higher and professional education and vocational education sectors in Sri Lanka in order to reduce the population of unskilled labour to 10 per cent, create global technocrats and position the island-nation as the epicentre for human resource development in Asia.

Transforming the education sector is also expected to generate revenue for the country by attracting both foreign investments and international students, and increasing foreign remittances brought in by skilled migrant workers, the statement said.

Under the instructions of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, public dialogues on the roadmap for the transformational agenda will be initiated in the island country in the coming weeks to ensure the initiatives undertaken in the education sector to address the real needs of students, educators, parents and professionals as well as broader national level institutions and systems.