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Indian aided Language Lab opened in Kandy
View(s):Education Minister Bandula Gunawardana and Indian High Commissioner Y.K. Sinha, jointly inaugurated a Language Lab recently at the Mahaweli National College of Education in Kandy.
This Language Lab is one of nine Language Labs that the Indian Government has set up in each of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, with the inaugural Language Lab in Gampaha in December 2013.
Language Labs have also been set up in Jaffna, Polonnaruwa, Ampara, Kurunegala, Ratnapura, Badulla and Matara.
The Language Lab project is being implemented as part of a MoU signed between India and Sri Lanka in 2011, for “Setting up of a Three-Tier English Language Training System in Sri Lanka”.
The total cost of the project is Rs 84 million, which is being implemented by the Indian Government under full grant assistance through Metropolitan Office (Pvt) Ltd, Colombo. As part of the project, the Indian Government has provided 30 computer units, other related equipment, software and the latest sophisticated teaching aids to each Centre, and has also trained five master trainers for each Centre, the Indian High Commission said in a press release.
The objective of the project is to help enhance English Language training infrastructure in Sri Lanka; raise the general level of proficiency in English Language of various sections of society; impart training in the use of English Language; familiarize English Language teachers from schools, colleges and universities in Sri Lanka, with recent trends in English Language teaching, and upgrade their skills.
Minister Gunawardena who spoke at the opening, said that this project would help advance the English Language skills of teachers and students in Sri Lanka.
The High Commissioner congratulated the Education Ministry on the successful completion of the Language Lab at Kandy, and recalled that the scope and scale of India’s Development Partnership projects in Sri Lanka had increased exponentially since the end of the armed conflict in 2009, with Indian assisted projects amounting to US$ 1.63 billion, encompassing virtually all major sectors including Housing, Infrastructure, Education, Health, Agriculture, Fisheries, Industry, Handicrafts and Culture. Importantly, the projects were in line with the needs and priorities identified by the Government of Sri Lanka. “The Government of India has attached high priority to the Education sector in its development partnership with Sri Lanka,” he said.