President’s support cause of country’s success in ICT

A project for initially making 50,000 persons IT literate within a month was officially launched by MP Namal Rajapaksa on the invitation of Telecommunication and IT Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya recently. Several Ministers and Government officials including Senior Rural Affairs Minister Athauda Seneviratne and Presidential Advisor ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) Chairman Prof. P. W. Epasinghe also graced the occasion. 

Speaking to the audience at the launch held at the Vidyasagara Pirivena Buddhist Temple at Kotiyakumbura, Kegalle, the ICTA Chairman put the project, aptly called ‘e-diriya,’ in its true perspective. The Professor said that the support President Mahinda Rajapaksa gave for the e-Sri Lanka initiative was at the root of the country’s successful use of ICT for development. The address by the Chairman of ICTA, the apex body responsible for implementing the e-Sri Lanka initiative, gave a succinct view of the national IT literacy initiative ‘e-diriya’. Following is his address:

As we now launch yet another important project under the e-Sri Lanka initiative, I believe that it is my duty, very briefly, to explain the goals of the project. Several programmes that make Information and Communication Technology very fruitfully contribute to our country’s development were implemented in the recent past.

It is also my duty to recall on this occasion the support the Government led by the President gave for integrating all these programmes meaningfully into the society. In particular I personally believe that if not for the support President Mahinda Rajapaksa and our Minister Ranjith Siyaambalapitiya offered, we would not have made this journey forward with this much of success.

You already know that the priority the Government has given for Information Technology is reconfirmed also through the 2012 Budget. Amidst the various budget proposals greater attention has been given for raising the country’s computer literacy. It is the Government’s responsibility to enable as many people as possible to make their requirements simple and fruitful by using the computer. Optimum accrual of the benefits of ICT to the people will be possible only if the people have at least a simple knowledge about the use of these benefits.

I believe that however much the computer, internet, e-mail and mobile phone are widespread in the country, in particular, if our ordinary people don’t have the ability to use these tools correctly and meaningfully, the optimum benefits of these tools will not accrue to our country. Therefore, the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka, in its endeavour to fulfil this responsibility, launched various programmes during the past several years.  

Out of these the most important programme is the provision of training about the use of computers to our Government sector officials. Accordingly we were able to train 14,000 Government personnel and empower them through information technology.

In addition, we were able to conduct training courses for farmers, Buddhist monks, and small and medium scale entrepreneurs and students who come to Nenasala (wisdom outlets).

Through the new project that we launch today we have taken steps to provide IT knowledge to a target group not covered so far. In particular we begin today the provision of training to 200,000 Samurdhi recipients in the first round. I trust that this basic simple computer knowledge that the Samurdhi recipients gain under this project will help them change their standard of life in a positive way.

I believe that although the computer cannot satisfy the hunger of Samurdhi recipients it will at least be able to equip them with knowledge and strategy for setting them free from poverty.

That is why we have named this project ‘e-diriya’. The idea behind this is to endow the underprivileged in our society with courage (‘diriya’) through IT. In other words the purpose of this project is to boost up the disadvantaged so that they go forward in the world, thanks to computer knowledge, with courage and strength.

Under the ‘e-diriya’ IT literacy project we provide computer knowledge primarily to 50,000 persons. It is to be noted that training under this project is carried out in such a manner that all the districts of the island other than the Western Province are covered. I believe that the ‘e-diriya’ project that had its kick-off today will be helpful in meeting the challenge we have of raising the country’s computer literacy to 76 per cent by 2016. On this occasion I wish to thank the Samurdhi Authority and the Education Ministry for their support in this regard.

ICTA has planned to implement the ‘e-diriya’ programme uninterruptedly next year as well.

While I expect the support of all of you for implementing this plan, I wish to offer my heartfelt thanks to young MP Namal Rajapaksa for gracing this important occasion to officially inaugurate the ‘e-diriya’ project on the invitation of the Minister.

I believe that in particular the presence of MP Namal Rajapaksa will be a contributory factor in taking this ‘e-diriya’ computer education, in particular, to the youth in an attractive manner.

May you all be encouraged through ‘e-diriya’!