This might result in productivity going further down. Recreation and entertainment are a luxury that most workers cannot afford and they have had to settle for cheap teledramas dished out for free. Increasing the number of working days will amount to denying workers time for relaxation, which is a prerequisite for enhancing productivity. This will also mean thousands of children spending more days in daycare centres, whose parents work and cannot afford a domestic aide. Apart from the large number of public holidays, Sri Lanka is also afflicted by many other problems.
Workers lack motivation and commitment.
Above all, the country lacks a work ethic. Effort must also be made to increase the intensity of production, be it on regular working days or otherwise, by imposing discipline and implementing already available rules and regulations. These must also be given serious thought, and remedial action taken if productivity is to be raised. Enhancing productivity is an end, we are afraid, that cannot be simply achieved by the curtailment of public holidays alone. There is hardly any other concept which is both adored and hated at the same time as the media freedom.