The British Council launched a new set of skills courses for over 900 Inland Revenue members of staff on Monday 7 May 2007 in the British Council hall from 1430. This groundbreaking training has been designed to unleash the potential of the employees working in the public sector.

This is all part of the Fiscal Management Reform Programme. The Ministry of Finance is taking the lead in modernising its services. To do this the front line staff are being trained using a multi-pronged approach. English, IT and communication skills are all being upgraded.

The driving forces behind this are the Commissioner General Mr A A Wijepala and the Project Director Ms Shamalie Gunawardana, she explains 'The British Council are providing a great service to the people of our country, we are hopeful other Ministries will follow our lead by investing in their people too.'

English is increasingly the preferred language of business communication between Government departments in Sri Lanka. It acts as the key link language between local communities and across international boundaries. The British Council’s English strategy is to build communication skills through English with key partners in order for them to be better equipped to achieve their own objectives.

Working with the Inland Revenue therefore fits very tightly with our local and global strategic objectives. Andrew Carr Senior teacher Professional Training Centre explains, 'Too often the public sector gets ignored by training companies, I walked into their first class yesterday and the commitment and enthusiasm from the Inland Revenue staff was exciting to see, we are delighted to be offering this training to these people.'

The participants get the chance to practise modern communicative methods. British Council’s expert trainers guide the participants towards using simple and concise writing which can be more easily understood regardless of where you come from.

By working on a large scale like this we can maximise the number of participants who benefit from the training. This is more likely to lead towards a measurable change in the way English is used right across an organisation.

Each group will be a maximum of 20 which will allow the trainers to give one-to-one attention to the needs of each individual.

It is hoped that with more funding we can reach more people in other parts of the public sector. In June, as part of this project, over 90 Deputy Commissioners will receive communication skills training from the British Council.

All of this has been made possible by generous funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB.)

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