Intel celebrates five years of supporting education in Sri Lanka
Intel Sri Lanka is celebrating the completion of a five-year period of supporting education through the use of IT in Sri Lanka with its ‘Education Pavilion’ – at the Infotel Exhibition to be held in Colombo from 2 to 5 December 2011.
The Education Pavilion will highlight Intel’s success stories among school students and teachers showcasing over 20 activities by the schools that have excelled in use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The exhibition will also feature presentations by industry experts looking at the future in education and IT.
The four-day exhibition, scheduled to take place at the BMICH from 3 to 5 December from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. will be opened by Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardena.
“Education is one of the key areas that need focus to ensure the development of the next generation of leaders in Sri Lanka. As such, Intel Sri Lanka’s commitment to education in the past five years has been exemplary. IT is essential to succeed in the 21st century and therefore it is crucial that children all over the island receive the necessary exposure to IT. Intel’s programmes have helped us achieve this goal,” said Minister Gunawardena.
Intel Sri Lanka has engaged in several initiatives to promote the use of IT in education among schools, including launching the Intel Teach Program in Sri Lanka. Intel Teach Program equips teachers with the necessary skills to effectively integrate technology in their teaching and supports peer-to-peer education among the students.
In addition, Intel encourages the use of IT in creativity and innovation among local students via SLSEF under the Intel ISEF (International Science and Engineering Fair), which is the world’s largest pre-college science competition, bringing together hundreds of talented local youth. Intel also provides teachers and students online access to global science and mathematics resources and tools localised in Sinhala and Tamil to help improve learning through the skoool.lk web site, and has donated Classmate PCs island wide via the Intel World Ahead Program, which aims to implement effective-learning environments that help prepare students for success in a changing world.
Discussing Intel’s milestone, Anura Dissanayake, Additional Secretary to the President, stated: “Intel has done an amazing job in the past five years in raising the standards of IT education in Sri Lanka.
By enabling local children to have access to global resources and tools and training teachers to deliver IT education practiced by teachers around the world, they have made sure that Sri Lankans will be able to meet international standards both at home and abroad whenever required.”
Infotel, the biennial IT exhibition dubbed the ‘premier’ IT exhibition in Sri Lanka, is known to showcase the latest and greatest in IT, bringing together industry experts and innovative concepts and providing an opportunity for locals to experience and understand new technologies first hand.
Intel EM Ltd. Country Business Manager Indika de Zoysa said: “We believe that the Education Pavilion will meet the core objective of Infotel 2011 and help highlight the new tools, resources etc., that are being used by not just teachers in developed countries but also many teachers in local schools.
We hope that this will be an opportunity for Sri Lankans to witness the high standards of IT education that is being implemented within local schools and the important role of IT education.”
