Mr. Malaka Dasanayaka, Director-Environment, Research & Project and Mr. Gimhan Dabarera, Secretary of the NGAP Sri Lanka Programme & NGAP National Coordinator participated for the ICAO, Next Generation of Aviation Professionals,(NGAP) Global Summit & 09th ICAO NGAP Meeting at the ICAO Head Quarters, Montreal, Canada held on 27th – 29th November 2017.

A presentation was done by Mr. Dabarera regarding ICAO NGAP best practices with reference to NGAP Sri Lanka programme as a Panelist in the Panel 07 – Developing a National NGAP Strategy at the ICAO, NGAP Global Summit held on 27th& 28th November 2017. Also, a new Proposal with regard to NGAP Aviation Industry Jobs & Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (AIJ-STEM) Outreach programme was presented by Mr. Dabarera as a member in the ICAO NGAO outreach working Group at the ICAO NGAP 09th Meeting held on 29th November 2017. This proposal was a new idea to enhance awareness among school students about aviation industry jobs & STEM.

Then, the ICAO NGAP unit was requested from Sri Lanka to organize this outreach programme as a pilot programme by the end of month of September 2018 & report to ICAO NGAP unit. That programme was included in the ICAO NGAP annual work plan of this year.

The Chairman & DGCA of the Civil Aviation Authority have given the approval to organize this NGAP pilot programme with the support of NGAP–SL National Committee & NGAP-SL Implementation Supportive Group.

This programme has been organized with 99 school students (age between 14 - 19 years) & they were divided in to 09 teams. Each team consists of 11 students & they have to perform the following Job roles & to answer the questions based on our Learning Management System (LMS) made by NGAP-SL.

1. Travel Agent
2. Aviation Security Officer
3. Ground Handling Agent
4. Cargo Service Agent
5. Airport Duty Manager
6. Flight Operations Officer
7. Aircraft Maintenance Engineer
8. Civil Aviation Inspector
9. Air Traffic Controller
10. Cabin Crew
11. Pilot

a. Inaugural Ceremony was conducted on 31st August 2018 to introduce this new NGAP Outreach Pilot programme (Competition) to the Students (Boys & Girls).

b. Airport visit was organized for the school students who participated in this competition.

c. The proposed Competition was conducted on 15th September 2018 at the school playground & class rooms successfully.

d. The Award Ceremony was held on 04th October 2018 at the Civil Aviation Authority with the participation of the Chairman & DGCA.

After that, Mr. Gimhan Dabarera as a member of the ICAO, NGAP Task Force (NGAP-TF), submitted a working paper on this NGAP Outreach Pilot programme at the first meeting of the ICAO, NGAP Task Force (NGAP-TF), held on 18-22 February 2019, Montreal, Canada.

a. The NGAP Task force was invited to review this NGAP Outreach programme, which we have done in Sri Lanka.

b. Proposed to introduce this NGAP Outreach Programme (Competition) on Aviation Industry Jobs and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics among other states.

c. If the NGAP TF agrees to introduce this AIJ – STEM competition to states, the NGAP-TF could appoint a group/ sub-group to make guidelines for this programme organized by the NGAP Sri Lanka. Also this programme could be focused on No. 01 objective of the NGAP frame work “Attract”.

Reference Item 6.2.5 in the summary of discussions of the ICAO-NGAP Task force meeting, Montreal, Canada held on 18-22 February 2019 was mentioned about the working paper of the NGAP Outreach Pilot programme presented by Mr. Dabarera.

Finally, NGAP Sri Lanka was completed the task assigned by the ICAO-NGAP unit within the scheduled period. This was a world first new programme that was introduced by NGAP Sri Lanka to the entire NGAP community of the world.