Intel and Education Ministry aim to build a brighter future through better education

Aiming to empower the next generation of Sri Lankan students, Intel and Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Education signed two memorandums of understanding that are intended to strengthen science and math education in Sri Lanka.

As part of the first MoU, Intel hopes to see its skoool™ e-learning program, which is currently available in English, be made available in a Sinhalese-language version. In addition, Intel and the Ministry of Education expressed a shared desire in the second MoU to see the Sri Lanka Science and Engineering Fair (SLSEF) take place again this year.

The two MoUs aim to give Sri Lankan students the opportunity to develop and showcase their math and science skills, and to strengthen the use of technology in the classroom. The agreements were signed in a ceremony at the Mahinda Rajapaksa College, in Homagama, in a ceremony that was attended by Bandula Gunawardena, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Education; H.M. Gunasekera, the Secretary of Education; Anura Dissanayake and Mr. Hemantha Prematilake, additional Secretaries of Education; John Davies, Vice President of Intel’s Sales and Marketing Group and General Manager of Intel’s World Ahead Program;  Indika de Zoysa, Country Business Manager at Intel Sri Lanka; and other officials.

Intel’s skoool™ program, initiated in 2007, offers teachers and students e-learning tools and resources that are designed to be more engaging and improve the learning process. Making these resources available in Sinhalese, in addition to the existing English version, will make them accessible to more students in Sri Lanka.

Speaking at the event, Minister of Education Gunawardana said, “The insight gained through these programs will enable these teachers and their students to improve their level of knowledge. These programs have been tried and tested across the world and will go a long way in enhancing our students’ level of knowledge in the fields of mathematics and science and technology. I have no doubt that these students here stand to benefit from this website as it provides various tools that will eventually make them better learners in due course.”

“This is a good opportunity for students to enhance their education through the use of technology and showcase the results. Ensuring that local communities benefit from technology is an important step towards building a brighter future for Sri Lanka. We are working with local communities and educational institutions through our Intel World Ahead Program to ensure that these opportunities are realized," Davies said.

The Sri Lanka Science and Engineering Fair (SLSEF) is held in December each year. The competitors for this fair are selected from the Science Research Project competition of the National Science Foundation (NSF) of Sri Lanka and the annual Junior Inventor of the Year (JIY) competition held by the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL). The ten best projects from these are brought together to compete at SLSEF. The winners of this local competition go on to vie in the world’s largest pre-college science competition that brings together thousands of young scientists who share ideas, showcase cutting-edge science, and compete for scholarships.

Through the Intel World Ahead Program Intel works with technology industry partners, education leaders and government figures to provide opportunities to those in developing communities that would otherwise not be available. Intel has committed US$1 billion over a period of five years to support the program, whose objectives include training an additional 10 million teachers in the use of technology in education, with a potential to reach another one billion students.

About Intel: Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance the way in how people work and live. For more information visit the skoool™ web site on http://www.skoool.lk or http://iteach.schoolnet.lk