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DP Education Founder and Chairman Dhammika Perera along with partner universities and officials at the ceremony at Nelum Pokuna to mark the 4th anniversary - Pic by Lasantha Kumara
By Divya Thotawatte
Marking the 4th anniversary of DP Education, its Founder and Chairman Dhammika Perera last week highlighted that the development of the country would be possible only with the digitalisation of education and industry.
The event celebrating the milestones, initiatives and the positive impact of the DP Education online platform took place at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre on Wednesday 11 October. DP Education, under the Dhammika and Priscilla Perera Foundation, was honoured with The Disruptor accolade at the Bett Asia Awards held in Bangkok, Thailand recently. This prestigious award distinguishes trailblazers who employ innovative tech solutions to redefine education, making it more relevant for the modern age.
Amidst a strong line-up of contenders like EduSpark World and Noodle Factory, both from Singapore, Dolphin International School and Learning Links Foundation, both from India and other contenders from Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and China, DP Education shone brightest.
Speaking at the 4th anniversary event, Dhammika Perera said to develop the country, it was necessary to build a global workforce in Sri Lanka and smart education was the only solution to improve education, skills and employability of the citizens. Furthermore, it would save valuable resources spent, contributing to a speedier economic recovery, he added.
“There are around 10,000 schools in Sri Lanka and if we provide smart classrooms for each school, within a year, we can create a system that will provide the same quality education to all 10,000 schools. This would be possible by working with the private sector.” He explained, with the assistance of the private sector, schools could rent and fix smart boards in their classrooms according to the size and need of each school while also renting solar panels of 30-35 kWh to be fixed on school buildings to save money.
Perera said that DP Education was also a solution to save money and resources while making education more accessible to students despite their locations and levels of income. He added that almost all universities in Sri Lanka, including the Universities of Moratuwa, Ruhuna and Kelaniya, have partnered with DP Education in an attempt to make their education accessible to all. He added that he aimed to partner with the most skilled industries and educators from around the world in the development of the digital platform.
Perera highlighted the necessity of digitisation and digitalisation of all industries and businesses, as working with a digital system that tracks all performance could ensure growth and improvement.
The technical skills needed for such endeavour should be acquired only by learning online and engaging with the digital program. DP Education was aimed to cover most skills and topics needed for this digitalized future, Perera added.
The University of Moratuwa, former Vice Chancellor Prof. Malik Ranasinghe highlighted that with the growing digitalisation of most industries, there is an increased demand for employees with skills such as software engineering and software developing.
He said, “sometimes the demand is too high and we don’t have enough individuals with the necessary qualifications. Employers don’t always wait several years to employ graduates, and would want to fill their positions promptly. Therefore, they are willing to employ individuals without degrees but who are trained with the skills needed.” To meet this high demand for employees with technical skills, a curriculum for the speedy training of technology students is being created collaboratively by the different universities in the country with the assistance of other international academic institutes. Educational content made in relation to this curriculum is available free of charge at DP Education.
DP Foundation CEO Kawshi Amarasinghe spoke on the achievements of the DP Education online platform. “We started the initial DP Education YouTube channel in 2019. Today, 1,500,000 students obtain free education from us. We have released 20,000 hours of educational content on YouTube up to now, and the courses and lessons are made available in the English, Sinhala and Tamil languages,” she said.
