Education Ministry seeks support from Gates Foundation

21 September 2022 01:02 pm Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 5 Bookmark

CHATURANGA PRADEEP SAMARAWICKRAMA Follow

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While highlighting Sri Lanka enjoys a free education policy from grade one to university level, the Education Ministry sought the support of the representatives of the Gates Foundation to increase the technical capacity of selected public schools by replacing the traditional blackboards with smart boards.

This information was revealed following discussions held with the representatives of the Gates Foundation on the sidelines of the Transforming Education Summit in the USA.

While stressing that investing in education is vital as the sustainable solution to the economic crisis also lies in education, Minister Susil Premajayantha explained that Sri Lanka is currently facing difficulties in securing funds to provide for this facility due to the prevailing economic situation.

He insisted that the government is utilizing funds only to maintain the vital and the essential expenses to maintain the public education sector in Sri Lanka.

While expressing gratitude for the global development programme by the Gates Foundation to develop the education sector in developing countries, Sri Lanka invited the Foundation to contribute by equipping academic activities in public schools in the country with modern technology.

He also pointed out that students will be able to get exposure to national and international education systems by using smart technology if the Gates Foundation joins hands in investing in Sri Lanka’s education, thus enabling the foundation to achieve its basic objectives. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)

Comments - 5

Seqi Wednesday, 21 September 2022 01:13 PM

Need smart teachers to use smart boards. The idea is good but there'll need to be a lot of inservice training. Wasn't this minister boasting the need of a tab for every student many moons ago? What happened to the investment money put aside for that..... thin air is cheap.

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KD Wednesday, 21 September 2022 01:55 PM

Last thing we need is smart boards. All we need is to make sure our kids are able to think critically, and compassionately and problem solve. And give them proper hard skills to complement the soft skills

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Don’t embrace new technology for it’s own sake Wednesday, 21 September 2022 03:13 PM

When the smart board came into the market in UK nearly 15 years ago, the government at that time enthusiastically approved them to all the State Schools in Britain. But none of the private schools including the elite ones wanted to change from the traditional blackboards. If you look at it the only argument for the new board you can come up with is that it is part of modern technology where the Teachers don’t have to use the chalks and they can also store all what is electronically written on the board. My argument against it is that it does not help the pupils in any additional way in the understanding of the subject being taught and it damages the students by having two different mediums where they learn from the teacher in an electronic environment but then go on to take the exams in the traditional setup involving no electronics other than their pocket calculators.

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Wrong, Wrong wrong Wednesday, 21 September 2022 06:10 PM

Some school don't even have proper infrastructure and students meals. Better focus on getting students fed well before chasing after technology. The foundation figure out Smartboard is only going to big schools and will never go to rural. How about electricity and other maintenance costs for those. Will the foundation provide for those too for ten years. Better get Foundation assistance to build new English medium Grade 1 onward classes, and provide English lessons for teachers to be able do that. I saw Minister previously say just last two three months he would beg for donation to supply food for children, then this high tech request is truly insane, and makes it seems like our schools are otherwise functioning superbly. And only lack for technology.

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Samantha Hetti Wednesday, 21 September 2022 08:32 PM

Asking for Smartboard seems like a over clever try or gimmick. He should instead of putting forward our really desperate needs, and then inviting them to come here to see the rural areas where school situations are so poor. At a minimum the foundation should have been invited to provide for school children meal so they can better study instead of staring blankly while hungry and malnourished. Minister Susil action/plan here seems thoroughly incompetent on the face of it.

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