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Thursday Sep 19, 2024
Thursday, 11 December 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
At the handing over of the grant to the President, from left: Microsoft Public Sector Lead Poojitha Rajapakse, ICTA Director Jayantha Fernando, ICTA CEO Reshan Devapura, Microsoft Area VP APAC Cesar Cernuda, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Minister for Telecommunication and IT Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology Secretary Gotabaya Jayaratne, Microsoft Country GM SEA Michelle Simmons, Microsoft Country Manager Sri Lanka Imran Vilcassim and Microsoft Citizenship Manager Janakie Karunaratne
The Head of Microsoft Asia Pacific also met with President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees, where he gifted up-to-the-minute Microsoft software to the value of $ 2,125.748 to be used in the Government’s Nenasala (Wisdom Outlet) program headed by ICTA.
President Rajapaksa who met with Cernuda said that he greatly appreciated the gesture by Microsoft. 
“Microsoft Sri Lanka has done a great deal of work with the Ministry of Education and ICTA to uplift ICT education and the support extended to our Nenasala program is greatly appreciated. We are moving successfully forward with this program and with the way things are progressing, and the support
we have received combined with the hard work put in by the ICTA, I have no doubt we will achieve the 75% target in our ICT literary rate by 2016,” he said.
Cernuda, speaking on behalf of Microsoft, said that he was impressed with the work already done through the Nenasala program. He said: “ICT is a vital part of a country’s economic growth and the Sri Lanka government has the right vision in placing it as a key priority in the country’s nation building exercise.
Providing free access to computers and the Internet to underserved Sri Lankans through the Nenasala program will only help to boost digital literacy and encourage economic development throughout the country.”
The Nenasala program also won the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s 2014 Access to Learning Award earlier this year, receiving a cash grant of $1 million to the e-Library Nenasala Program (eLNP), in recognition of its work. The President of Microsoft Asia Pacific said that Microsoft as a partner of the foundation made the software donation to eLNP, as a part of the company’s commitment to bring the benefits of relevant and accessible technology to local communities around the world.
Microsoft Sri Lanka has partnered the Ministry of Education on a number of initiatives to uplift secondary and university level education in Sri Lanka. Their flagship programs such as ‘Innovative Teachers & Students’ and ‘Imagine Cup’ have become national level competitions whilst teacher training, IT centres and other community projects such as Gamata IT have contributed immensely towards uplifting rural education in the country.
Nenesala Centres are located in rural areas to give residents increased access to high-quality equipment, training, and locally tailored information to help them improve their lives. The majority of the Nenasalas are to be found within religious institutions, which have served as community centres and places of learning for centuries. This strategy has helped the government earn the confidence and trust of Sri Lanka’s rural residents, who have had little access to technology until now. Whether housed in a temple, kovil, mosque or church, each Nenasala is free and open to people of all religions and income levels.
In addition to access, the centres provide training to help people acquire basic computer and Internet skills, and to communicate through email and social media platforms. Local youth often become volunteer computer trainers at the Nenasalas and are given basic training at the beginning of their service. Refresher courses, online training programs, and peer-to-peer learning opportunities are also made available to them to further hone their knowledge.
The Nenasala program will use the donated Microsoft software to further develop instruction for children living in the most remote areas. This will be a part of a larger country-wide strategy to “take the dividends of ICT to every village and every citizen”.
