Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2021-10-05

Establishment of a Higher Education Research and Training Institute as “Sri Lanka Charted Institute of Journalists”

- The need has been found to establish an institute with the state sponsorship to ensure the growth and international standards of the media education sector, having found the issues in the media sector. There are a considerable number of students undergoing media education within the school system, in particular. However, sufficient number of higher educational institutes have not yet been established to cater their necessity. Although there are few mass communication degree programmes conducted within universities, it has been observed that, such courses do not provide sufficient practical and technological knowledge to create a professional journalist. Therefore, the Cabinet approved the proposal made by the Minister of Mass Media to establish a Higher Education Research and Training Institute as “Sri Lanka Charted Institute of Journalists to make available educational opportunities from courses of certificate level to degree and post graduate degree level on mass media, with the objective of providing opportunity to the media personnel already engaged in the service, media managers and school students who intend to enter the field to study the field of mass media, to obtain required practical training as well as to enhance professionalism through capacity development and aiming to create journalists needed to create a media culture with moral autonomy.