Intel ‘Education Pavilion’ at Infotel 2011 showcases students’ ICT achievements

Intel Sri Lanka last week celebrated the culmination of its fifth year supporting education through IT in Sri Lanka with its ‘Education Pavilion’ at Infotel 2011 which was opened by Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardena.

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.

The ‘Education Pavilion’ at this exhibition, put together by Intel Sri Lanka, highlights 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 ‘Education Pavilion’ displayed a diverse variety of projects, ranging from Android apps, teaching and learning packages, online TV and radio stations etc from 20 schools across the island.

The schools represented include Royal College, Colombo; Sammanthurai Muslim MMV, (Eastern); Paanakawa MV (Sabaragamuwa); Kandy Model School, Pologolla (Central Province); Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vidyalaya, Colombo; Ananda College, Colombo; Dr. N.M. Perera Central College, Yatiyanthota (Sabaragamuwa); Nalanda College, Colombo; St. Mary’s College, Trincomalee (Eastern); Gnanodata MV, Divulapitiya (Western Province); Siri Mihindu MV, Radawadunna (Western); Siddhartha MV, Horabokka (Uva); Rambuka MV (Sabaragamuwa); Sri Sumana MV, Mahalakotuwa (Central Province), Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo; Sri Rahul Balika Vidyalaya, Malambe (Western); Dewananda MV, Mirahawatta (Uva); Ambatenna Pushpadana MV (Central); and Lunugala Yodaweva MV, Monaragala (Uva).

In addition to the schools, University of Moratuwa showcased the technology and systems used to power the SchoolNet of Ministry of Education as well as the skoool.lk and localisation activities while the Ministry of Health exhibited the new developments in the usage of ICT for healthcare in the country.

“Paving the way for creating tomorrow’s leaders through education is my primary concern and IT education is an area that needs a lot of attention and needs to be developed in Sri Lanka. While our the number of IT literates are rising, it’s crucial that we expose our younger generations and school children to IT at a young age to ensure that they’re equipped with the skills that are fast becoming essential in almost any industry or activity. The Education Pavilion highlights some of the ways in which the kids who have participated in Intel’s IT programmes have utilised their IT knowledge and some of the creative and innovative ideas they’ve come up with, which has been heart-warming,” said Minister Gunawardena.

R. Sivakumar, Managing Director of Sales & Marketing Group, Intel South Asia, said: “Educating the youth has always been one of our endeavours in every country we operate in. The talent displayed at the Education Pavilion is just the tip of the iceberg and we feel extremely fortunate to have helped facilitated some of the great projects and activities we’ve seen today.”

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.

Discussing Intel’s milestone, Anura Dissanayake, Additional Secretary to the President Sri Lanka, stated: “Intel has done an amazing job in the past five years in raising the standards of IT education in Sri Lanka. There are over twenty schools represented in just this pavilion and they come from all over the island. Intel has done an admirable task of taking IT to even the most rural villages in the past five years.”

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.

Intel is a world leader in computing innovation. The Company designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world’s computing devices.