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We’d like to be like Singapore. But Singapore achieved success due to the knowledge, competitiveness, and productivity of its workforce, as the tiny country lacks mineral resources and agriculture. What are we doing to equip our nation’s human resources to achieve this goal?Despite more than half a century of free education, there is a startling …

Making Sri Lankans employable: What schools really should be teaching Read More »

Sri Lanka’s health authorities are fearing that yet another massive Covid cluster will break out shortly following thousands of people flocking to one location in Kegalle to snap up a miracle syrup that was being distributed freely by a quack physician who claims it will cure the pandemic.The knee jerk reaction of authorities, instead of …

Use big data to battle Covid in Sri Lanka Read More »

The world’s 7.8 billion people need 15.6 billion doses of a double-dose vaccine. The world’s production capacity is only five billion doses per year. But 32 rich countries that have only 13% of the world’s population have already pre-ordered 10 billion doses.Duke University’s Global Health Information Centre estimates that poorer countries may have to wait …

A vaccine can’t immunise SL against an economic crisis Read More »

The dynamic nature of the digital universe must be taken into account. Every new protection technique spawns a new hacking technique designed to get through it. Countries and businesses must always be a step ahead of them in order to beat cybercriminals.The dynamic nature of the digital universe must be taken into account. Every new …

Raising retirement age: Good or bad? Read More »

Youngsters grow up without icons to emulateNot exactly shining examples for our young people to emulate, are they? This week, we had an Opposition Member of Parliament biting into a raw fish at a media conference. That went viral. Last week, we saw several Cabinet Ministers involved in black magic, throwing enchanted clay pots into …

Where are Sri Lanka’s role models? Read More »

Get away from frivolous matters “Was Kamala Harris’ grandfather a Sri Lankan?” That’s one of the key items trending on Sri Lankan social media these days. Not just among teenagers, but among educated Sri Lankans.Sri Lankans love to digress from reality and venture into a fantasy world. Right now, too many educated Sri Lankans are …

Foreign policy must be formulated by economists, not politicians Read More »

There’s a lot of global power play in South Asia these days. India, China, the US… and now we are likely to have a new global US doctrine with a change in the White House. Sri Lanka hasn’t played the global investment game very well. That’s because we keep confusing economics with geopolitics. Investors want …

Foreign policy must be formulated by economists, not politicians Read More »

More than seven months after Sri Lanka’s first Covid lockdown, are the country’s state and private sectors better prepared to work from home (WFH) than before? How do we compare with global trends and have we adopted the new technologies that other nations are using?There are now renewed hopes that a vaccine is only a …

Is Sri Lanka better prepared to work from home? Read More »

“Parliament is not categorised in the gazette as a public space” – Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi in Parliament. The country needs people to work and earn money, for themselves, for the government, and for the nation. But people use this as an excuse to gather around, shop, and attend weddings and religious events, and thus …

Can technology save our economy from Covid? Read More »

Last Sunday, hundreds of thousands of little children were put at risk by forcing them to sit for the Grade Five Scholarship Exam, during the middle of the worst outbreak in Sri Lanka of the deadliest pandemic to challenge mankind in more than a century. A few days before that, a male teacher was arrested …

Shishyathwa: Not during Covid, not ever! Read More »