India funds 200 smart classrooms in Southern Province

President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha on Saturday handed over digital equipment to several schools in the Southern Province at an event in Galle. 

Various dignitaries including Education Minister Dr. Susil Premajayantha and Health and Industry Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana were also present.

These digital equipment were distributed under a grant assistance project by the Government of India (GoI) for the establishment of 200 smart classrooms in the Southern Province. The project aims at equipping 200 schools in the province with necessary digital tools that would enable them to benefit from digital resources and materials across the globe. 

Speaking on the occasion, President Wickremesinghe thanked GoI and Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for the multi–pronged support to Sri Lanka in the education domain. 

High Commissioner Jha underlined that India has witnessed major technological advancements in the education sphere in recent years. Further, GoI is committed to the benefits from such advancements to the students and teachers in Sri Lanka. He noted that GoI carries out several human-centric projects in the Southern Province and specifically mentioned that over 1,300 houses are currently being constructed by GoI for homeless families in the three districts of the Province. 

Establishment of smart classrooms in the Southern Province is being implemented under the bilateral High Impact Community Development Project framework. 18 grant projects cutting across sectors are being carried out under this framework in all 25 Districts of Sri Lanka. The value of these projects stand at around Rs. 5.5 billion.