Govt. stepping up efforts to make Sri Lanka digitally inclusive: Namal

• Stresses importance of community-led digital transformation as vital
• Says irrespective of Government policies, community needs to embrace digital transformation

Youth and Sports Minister and State Minister of Digital Technology and Enterprise Development Namal Rajapaksa

Minister of Youth and Sports and State Minister of Digital Technology and Enterprise Development Namal Rajapaksa last week highlighted a host of measures carried out and being planned by the Government to make Sri Lanka digitally inclusive.

He was addressing the webinar on ‘Digital Inclusion and Transformation in South Asia’, organised by ORF India in collaboration with Colombo Initiative and the Sappani Foundation last week.

“Digital transformation is affecting how we work, socialise, and create economic value. The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the need for significant support and investments on digital transformation and effective digital governance across all countries in the region, particularly to ensure the continuity and delivery of core government functions,” Minister Rajapaksa said.

Noting that the COVID-19 pandemic’s devastating impact is reaching every corner of the world he said: “As we look back at this period, we will see history divided into a pre-COVID and a post-COVID world. A defining feature of the post-COVID world will be the digital transformation that has permeated every aspect of our lives.”

Following are excerpts from the Minister’s speech.

As Forbes magazine highlights, there are six pillars of digital transformation: experiences, people, change, innovation, leadership, and culture. I believe that inclusion must be at the heart of digital transformation to “leave no one behind”. We need to embed inclusive objectives in the four core foundations of the digital economy: internet access, digital skills, digital financing and e-commerce.

If a nation is to move forward in the current context, community-led digital transformation is vital. Irrespective of the Government’s policies, the community needs to embrace the digital transformation fundamentals and take lead in this journey. Governments will be then compelled to take the step towards digitalisation.

We need to educate the public on the importance of digital transformation and benefits of digital education, especially during the pandemic. For example, digital education in Sri Lanka, even though at the early stage, is growing at a rapid rate. Due to the pandemic, the school system has had to embrace online education, which they were reluctant to do before; and now, it is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the country.

The United Nations has recognised digital education as one key pillar in their Sustainable Development Goals. One of the objectives under this pillar is to, by 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment and entrepreneurship. 

This, too, is a key priority for us in Sri Lanka. We are committed to providing our youth with the skills and the tools to further their ambitions and promote entrepreneurship and assist them to find skilled employment. This is vital for countries such as ours. We need to keep our youth occupied.

The 21st Century is known as the knowledge-centric century. Therefore to remain globally competitive, we must be efficient and technology needs to be integrated with every sector of the economy, be it agriculture, industry, or the service sector. It is vital that we invest strategically in new technologies and include such innovations into our education systems, and economy. A culture of technological innovations must be nurtured.

Under the leadership of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a key priority of the Government is to work towards a “digitally inclusive Sri Lanka”.

While we drive all this vision forward the convenience of our citizens would be the foremost consideration in setting up a citizen-centric digital government. We will ensure that we put in place a process where people would not have to be inconvenienced due to inefficiency, delays, and having to commute to many points of service delivery to obtain public services, when such services could be obtained via the internet.

While we have already implemented digital access to vital documents such as birth and death certificates, we are working toward establishing a fully digital ID. The process of establishing a centralised digital ID has already begun and we hope to begin work by the end of the year along with an e-Gramasevaka service that will allow the public access to essential public services from home.

While education, public services and work is shifting to the digital space, economies, too, have had to follow suit. With COVID 19 our entire lifestyles have changed. We no longer interact or go about like we used to, we cannot.

Corporations and countries alike need to start investing more in digital platforms and online trading.

In Sri Lanka, we hope to simplify the processes for e-businesses and we are looking at attracting more investment in the e-commerce space. We are also actively pursuing blockchain technology, which would facilitate digital currencies and a larger digital economy. We are also looking at promoting e-sports and gaming with so many talented youth and an already vibrant community of gamers and developers alike. We see a lot of promise in this, especially for the younger generations. Globally, esports remains a $ 100 billion industry with infinite potential. We should encourage our youth to explore these avenues to create a livelihood for themselves but also create new industries. While youth are stuck indoors, digital space provides them with an escape to not only express their creativity but also monetise it.

While digital transformation is certain, its direction is not. Governments, civil society and the private sector must work together to ensure that digital technologies benefit not only the economy but society and the environment and have inclusion at their heart. Only then do we stand a chance of realising the true transformative potential of digital technologies to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.