Driving Uva to prosperity through technology

Tuesday, 2 September 2014 11:12 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

In an era where most politicians and bureaucrats pay lip service to incorporating IT to empower the next generation in their constituencies it is both refreshing and timely to see a unique program bearing fruit silently probably at the most remotest of provinces one can imagine in Sri Lanka. Five years ago it was considered most under developed; it had some of the poorest villages in the country and probably contributed lowest to the country’s GDP. For decades many promised the people of UVA prosperity, they told tales of how they would transform provincial fortunes for the better! People voted time and again! Yet as at 200X the fortunes of the province remained the same. It is said President Mahinda Rajapaksa has a knack for picking talent and assigning them unique responsibilities. At UVA he went one step further. He not only picked a visionary a true leader but also picked the eldest of the next generation of Rajapaksa dynasty for probably the most low profile but yet unique challenge. To bring prosperity to a province that has been sidelined for generations. Shasheendra Rajapaksa was given the highest mandate by the people of UVA affirming President’s foresight.

Advisory Panel of technology leaders

Whilst Chief Minister Rajapaksa’s contribution was wide and across multiple facets of the society, the aim of this article is to focus on his unmatched effort in the sphere of information technology adoption in the province. Being an educated man Chief Minister Rajapaksa set about this task in the most prudent corporate manner. First he identified a group of advisors who could provide him with much needed wisdom. He brought in qualified industry personnel to assist him in formulating a strategy to incorporate IT in the livelihoods of the people of UVA province. Together with his advisors his first task was to invite private sector to be part of this noble endeavour. Heeding to his request large private companies lined up to be part of this initiative. Nowhere in the history of this nation was there ever a consistent program where so many global giants worked hand in hand for such a long time. Biggest of the biggest names in the industry notably Intel, IBM World Trade Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Cisco Corporation among others actively took part in bringing to life one of the most ambitious socital IT enablement programs in the history of this country. What follows is a synopsis of some of the work that was done under the radar by some of these global giants.

IBM World Trade Corporation

Starting 2011 IBM World Trade Corporation donated the IBM KidSmart Early Leaning Program (ELP) to the UVA province which is valued at over $ 50,000. The IBM KidSmart ELP used most effective up-to-date hardware, software and educational materials in order to give young children who were attending kindergarten, childcare centers and other early childhood learning settings in the province providing effective jump-start in their education. The objectives of this program was to contribute IBM’s unique assets and expertise to pre-school education through the donation of information technology, teachers’ training and support and to enhance the early learning technology and education programs at schools in the Uva Province. The IBM World Trade Corporation provided an IBM Young Explorer workstation consisting of a personal computer, a monitor and a set of durable plastic furniture including the assembly and the installation. IBM WTC provided a Riverdeep “Best of Edmark” software and the Teacher’s Guide specially designed for the Young Explorer workstation. IBM WTC trained 40 teachers, two per school on the package.

Intel Corporation

Uva Province has had the opportunity to be benefited from Intel through its world-acclaimed educational initiatives. The province now has more than 2,500 teachers trained in using ICT under the Intel Teach program, conducted by Intel Sri Lanka.2958 teachers have participated in the Intel Teach program and Intel Sri Lanka has conducted 326 teacher forums since they have started their educational programs in the province. Moreover, 156 master teachers, 56 officials and 128principals have also been trained through Intel teach. Intel has also provided more than 110 Classmate PCs – low-cost personal computers introduced by Intel for children in the developing countries, across six labs which are namely Pitikumbura M.V, Koularagama M.V, Mirahawatte Devananda M.V, Uva Highland Tamil M.V, Barandarawela M.V and Monaragala Royal College.

Oracle Corporation

Teachers from UVA province participated in Oracle Academy’s SQL & Java Fundamentals trainings doing course like ‘Getting Started with Java Using Alice’, Java Fundamentals, Database Design & programming with SQL & Oracle ThinkQuest training was imparted to Uva Province teachers by doing workshops to familiarise them on how to create projects on ThinkQuest; an online learning platform for primary and secondary schools, to ‘Think, Create and Collaborate’, unleashing the power of technology to teach, share, and inspire. Notes: As of July 1, 2013 ThinkQuest has been discontinued. A significant amount of teachers has been trained under Oracle Academy and Oracle ThinkQuest program during the last few years.

Microsoft Corporation

Under the theme of ‘Uva revolution’ the company conducted number of teacher training programs to bring the skill level of the academic staff at schools across UVA. Global giant donated a Multi Mouse lab to the Uva Province together with Shasheendra Rajapaksa. Having understood the impact of the migrant worker contribution in the province, the company opened two migrant worker training centres with Dilan Perera with a third scheduled to open in October.

Cisco Corporation

Cisco had supported an initiative which was channeled through University of Colombo to conduct workshops in the schools in Uva province in building network competency. They also had supported and demonstrated the technical lab setup for ‘Dayatakirula’ exhibition at Buttala.

ICTA

Being the flagship IT agency in the country ICTA sphere headed several key inititives in the province including large career fair which brought in over 3000 students and over 100 teachers and principles with a focus on building awareness on IT and BPO career opportunities which is one of the five focus areas of the government to make a billion dollor industry. Agency also conducted another unique program with the help of 7 IT companies to raise IT awareness among SMEs in the province.

CEO mindset of a Chief Minister

Five years is a reasonable period for one to ascertain the impact made by any politician. Hon. Shasheendra Rajapkse has made his mark in a silent but yet in the most effective manner. The success of his IT initiatives speaks volumes about the personality of this unique person. He never said he knows it all. Like a true CEO first he built the team and then empowered the team to prosper under proper leadership. The result: unprecendented response by the biggest of the biggest giants in the global IT industry to help this small province in Sri Lanka, UVA.