Sri Lanka navy makes historic move by enrolling first batch of women for officer training

• Sri Lanka’s naval academy has enrolled its first batch of women to train as officers.
• Female personnel started receiving Navy assignments in 2022, initially for sea duty.
• The government is currently drafting changes to military laws to eliminate these barriers.

In a historic milestone for Sri Lanka’s Navy, the naval academy has enrolled its first batch of women to train as officers. While female personnel started receiving Navy assignments in 2022, these were exclusively for sea duty.

This week, at the Sri Lanka Navy headquarters in Colombo, 66 cadets, including six women, received letters of academy appointment.

“This is the first time we have recruited lady cadets to the … Naval and Maritime Academy, Trincomalee,” Capt. Gayan Wickramasuriya, the Navy’s spokesperson, told the news on Friday.

“There are so many lady officers working in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan also … It’s not a new thing,” added Wickramasuriya.

“Women can do the same jobs as men that is why the commander of the Navy decided to recruit the lady cadets.”

J.H.D.D. Sephora, one of the women embarking on naval academy training, has always felt drawn to the sea, and this opportunity enables her to combine her passion with service.

“Since I excelled in mathematics in secondary school, I shared my ambitions to work for the Navy with my parents. I believed that my maths knowledge could be valuable in navigational work on ships,” she informed a news source.

“This is a good opportunity to show the strength of women.”

The admission of female cadets to the academy follows the Sri Lankan government’s efforts to facilitate the advancement of women in the country’s military hierarchy. Although the Army includes women, they face limitations, such as restrictions to the rank of major and mandatory retirement by the age of 45.

The government announced last month that it is currently drafting changes to military laws to eliminate these and similar barriers.

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