Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya held a discussion on July 21 at Parliament with officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Digital Economy, GovTech Agency, Sri Lanka Air Force, Sri Lanka Telecom, Dialog, and other relevant institutions to review the progress of the digitalisation process of the education sector.
During the discussion, officials briefed the Prime Minister on the progress made under the Task Force appointed under the leadership of Prime Minister’s Secretary Pradeep Saputhanthri, with the objective of providing the required digital facilities to support the new education reforms initiated by the present Government.
The officials highlighted that several initiatives have been implemented during the past year, including the development of digital infrastructure in schools, installation of smart boards, provision of internet facilities, and supply of computers to schools.
They further informed that, with the technical assistance of the Sri Lanka Air Force, significant progress has been made in the implementation of the HRM module of the NEMIS (National Education Management Information System). The data entry process for four provinces has been fully completed, while arrangements have been made to complete the inclusion of information from the remaining five provinces within the next three months.
The NEMIS system is expected to be used for teacher transfers in the future. At present, teacher transfer processes in the Sabaragamuwa and Western Provinces have already commenced through this system.
Furthermore, updating and enhancing the Human Resource Management Module containing relevant data is also scheduled to be carried out in the coming period.
The progress of providing internet facilities to schools through Fibre technology was also discussed in detail. It was decided to complete the provision of these facilities by December 31. For schools where providing internet facilities through Fibre technology is practically challenging, Wireless or Satellite technology will be considered as alternative solutions.
The Secretary to the Ministry of Education will take necessary steps to proceed with the implementation process after considering competitive proposals submitted by all service providers.
The meeting also focused on several future development initiatives, including the full implementation of the LMS (Learning Management System) and NEMIS (National Education Management Information System) platforms while connecting all schools to these systems, updating the “e-Thaksalawa” digital learning platform, and entering into an agreement between the Ministry of Education and the GovTech Agency to further advance the digitalisation of education.
The occasion was attended by Minister of Women and Child Affairs Saroja Savithri Paulraj, Deputy Minister of Digital Economy Eranga Weeraratne, Deputy Minister of Education Dr. Madhura Seneviratne,Deputy Minister of Mass Media Dr. Kaushalya Ariyaratne, Prime Minister’s Secretary Pradeep Saputhanthri,Secretary to the Ministry of Education Nalaka Kaluwewa, Secretary to the Ministry of Digital Economy and a group of senior government officials.
