It was in a Pickme tuk that I had to return from the programme at ITN last Saturday. The driver, who was about 55 years of age, was inquisitive to know whether I worked at ITN, perhaps since I got into the tuk from there. “No, I went for a programme,” I cut it short.
“When will it be broadcasted?” another question. “It was a live programme,” I replied.
“A political programme?” he had made an assumption already. “No, it was about a programme that assists those who graduate from universities in finding job opportunities,” I briefed simply.
“That’s great, it is such a challenge for these kids nowadays to find a job. My son is in the University of Peradeniya and while studying, they have to take some kind of training called….”
“Internship?” I filled in.
“Yes, he found it really hard to get one,” he said again.
Thanks to all the research we had been doing in the past few months, I had an idea which fields were the most difficult to find an internship in. “Is your son doing civil engineering?,” hence I guessed.
“Yeah miss, he somehow managed to find an internship eventually, but I am not sure if his friends did yet. I heard they were trying really hard with no luck.”
“Actually, it is about this internship process that we are trying to create awareness of. We connect those who seek internships with the companies that provide such opportunities,” I took the chance to explain our work.
“That’s really nice. I wonder if my kid knows about this,” he expressed. “It hasn’t been long since we started this project, we are still trying to create awareness,” I replied.
“There is a period when the companies visit the university to inform the students about the internship opportunities they offer. Perhaps, you could do some programmes during that as well,” he wanted to share his insights.
Since this mature tuk driver whose son was studying at the University of Peradeniya seemed to have a comprehensive understanding of the issue, I continued the conversation further. The issues the students have to face in finding an internship, the need to improve their English language skills, the fall of several industries and sectors in the country, and the gap between the internship seekers and the small-scale companies that provide scholarships became topics to our chit chat while travelling from the ITN premises to Maharagama. He also learned how to connect his son with Myturn.
It is indeed very coincidental yet true. What I figured out from this conversation was that people have an idea about what and how things should happen, nonetheless, sometimes, there might not be any to execute it. Of course, we cannot transform the whole country at once, regardless, I can, with pleasure, assure that Myturn has laid the foundation to resolve, at least one burning issue in the country.
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