While supervising our construction site recently, I noted Saman, a 20 year-old mason, having difficulty in operating his new cell phone. "Mahaththaya sms yawanna dannawa, setting eka maru karana heti ingrisiyen thiyenne," he said, shyly admitting his inability to understand English. Mindful of his poor background and incomplete education, I assisted in adjusting his phone settings and taught him how to use it.

This incident made me realise what a tremendous impact Information Communication Technology (ICT) has made in our lives today. Even the man with a low income can afford a cellular phone. Sadly, this ICT revolution has not been properly implemented in most developing countries. How did India, being similar to Sri Lanka, make progress so rapidly, while Pakistan could not compete on a similar scale? Why is China far ahead despite the language barrier? My view is that they had a proper infrastructure and good education system in place to face the changes of the world. Can Sri Lanka catch up and does it have a sustainable development strategy in place to face this demanding rat-race? If so what is the approach (top down initiatives, bottom up, or perhaps a hybrid!)?

As a research student I find the MIT Universities’ OpenCourseWare initiative very useful. As stated in their website presentation, the purpose behind such an initiative was to uplift the relatively declining standards of education in the US. At present many other universities across the world have hosted material suitable for High School students. Therefore this philosophy of free education is something not to be ignored! I had an epiphany - “What if Saman and other village children had access to free education too?” However, the fact that much of online education available is in English is an obvious problem. This article aims to provide a philosophical and practical solution to some of Sri Lanka’s escalating problems at the grass root level, taking into consideration the current initiatives and innovations already in place. It is necessary to state that different individuals may have different views, but I hope to maintain a sense of optimism when proposing my ideas, thus appealing to the reader to share my outlook.

Coming back to Saman’s story, one which is typical to most village kids, emphasis is usually laid on supporting the family, while pursuing educational dreams is deemed secondary, due to many constraints. This is a big contrast to lives in urban areas, where education is continuously encouraged. So why is this option available to the privileged only? Isn't there a way in which a poor village boy can support his family and simultaneously pursue his dreams of becoming a doctor or an engineer just as we in the urban areas do? The solution to this has to come from a government-backed initiative making it mandatory that all children receive basic education through schools till grade 8 at the very least (including English). Children of poor families should be paid for achieving good grades as a reward to support their family. It is a known fact that at higher levels of education, it becomes harder to find good teachers in most parts of the country, thus the higher the level, the lower the pass rates. Therefore it is this area that needs to be looked into next.

A rather practical and straightforward method would be to bring “Open Education” to the level of OL/ALs. The solution being proposed here takes two folds – with ICT playing a major role. Initially a free Linux distribution containing education friendly-learning tools should be implemented, and can be localized to assist the learning curve (however not to be an alternative to “English”). Training lessons will be provided through State Media. Facilitated by a Multilingual Dictionary-SMS service for students, or a similar Mobile Application would be of great essence. This will be the free technical platform on which two approaches could be carried out. The first method will involve professional teachers or university graduates to give back to the community by recording (interactive) lessons (Multilingual) on CD/DVD media and making sure these reach the students who need it the most. The second approach will be to maintain portals (like MIT), where colleges and universities contribute necessary resources for O/L and A/L students. Both approaches will be time consuming, but this has to be community driven through the developed schools and universities. So we have the government’s pledge to support quality education (top down) and have schools/communities and individuals contributing their share of knowledge and expertise (bottom up). The question now arises about the infrastructure.

This is where a Hybrid model comes in. Ideally the government would spend regularly to improve and maintain quality education for all students in the island, where the educated would help younger generations by imparting expertise and knowledge. Additionally, a corporate entity leading the way in Corporate Social Responsibility could contribute and maintain an IT centre in some districts of the country. The smaller corporations may follow by contributing necessary resources to district level schools. Included in this package are, basic web-cams linked to the best schools in the country, broadcasting live lessons (with feedback) and access to International channels like Discovery and NatGeo could be provided, along with a locally maintained education channel. This will foster a sense of exploration, imagination, and creativity in young minds. Each of these three entities can contribute the necessary expertise as well. The process could be interative and refined, for example, to facilitate maintenance and support. ICT and Systems professionals may contribute their expertise to check systems and if required, the government could initiate a payment structure for on-site troubleshooting.

This would make life easier for the corporations – who would only be required to invest in the initial capital (Virtualization technologies & Thin-client architecture, would make it more economical). Eventually, once the initial framework is laid, the learning networks can be expanded through wireless technologies to the domestic level. Furthermore, communication giants can expand their CSR portfolio by laying the proper groundwork so that international initiatives such as “One Laptop Per Child” can be effectively brought to Sri Lanka. Unlike any other project, this one will always have at least one entity motivating the other two at any given time to move forward, thus keeping the initiative active and contributing to the sustainable and long term progress of our country.

As a citizen of Sri Lanka I am well aware of current development initiatives and I encourage the government and private sectors to think of unconventional ideas to address the micro issues prior to the macro ones (ie - providing many PC's for all major district level schools before distant rural villages and then utilizing that talent pool to expand). Certainly “Nenesala’s” and “Schools net” are doing a great job across the country, however in this proposed approach, emphasis is made on free digital media being circulated offline, and utilizing it on used low configuration PC’s, thus widening the scope of reach, both quantitatively and relatively qualitative, before bringing in the Internet’s fullest potential. Used PC’s could be obtained through donations made by organizations upgrading their machines, generous individuals or even perhaps neighbouring nations, at a low price.

One may also wonder how sustainable it would be to aim to have a PC in every household after achieving the above goals. One of the main issues is that there are many rural areas where there is no electricity, or the inability for most to pay their bills! A practical solution to this energy crisis would be to invest in “Creative Science” and develop this through Research and Development to bring low cost energy solutions for all citizens. A few people from developed nations have made solutions available on the Internet for a moderate fee. Thus enthusiasts may wish to try their hands at implementing them. The writer wishes to remind you to put your country before self, look beyond, as visionaries who will work to benefit our children and grandchildren and generations to follow. Nothing will work without a driving community; hence the writer welcomes your ideas on the forum “ilanka.forumotion.net”.

As a micro model I wish to set an example by volunteering to configure old PCs (packed with a free encyclopedia, dictionary and educational software) for needy schools for absolutely free! To those I have reached out to, please contact me (through the forum given above or msalmaan@gmail.com) PC donors, Needy School Principals, Voluntary Delivery Services and Organizations all are welcome. I believe in making technology work for all! With this I wish to reach out to privileged schools and welcome any other willing donors, sponsors to help sustain my humble efforts, including sponsoring a few youth who cannot afford quality education..